LightWave v9

Reference Manual
License.key number Win32 Win64 MAC NewTek 5131 Beckwith Blvd San Antonio, TX 78249 Tel.: 1-800-862-7837 - Fax: 210-370-8001 www.newtek.com

This publication, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form, by any method, for any purpose without prior written consent from NewTek, Inc. Copyright 2006, NewTek, Inc. All Rights Reserved

II

LightWave 9
ACCOMPANYING WRITTEN MATERIALS AND LIMITED TO 90 DAYS AS TO THE MEDIA. YOUR EXCLUSIVE REMEDY FOR BREACH OF WARRANTY WILL BE THE REPLACEMENT OF THE MEDIA OR REFUND OF THE PURCHASE PRICE. IN NO EVENT WILL NEWTEK OR ITS DEVELOPERS, DIRECTORS, OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES OR AFFILIATES BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR ANY CONSEQUENTIAL, INCIDENTAL OR INDIRECT DAMAGES (INCLUDING DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF BUSINESS PROFITS, BUSINESS INTERRUPTION, LOSS OF BUSINESS INFORMATION, AND THE LIKE), WHETHER FORESEEABLE OR UNFORESEEABLE, ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE SOFTWARE OR ACCOMPANYING WRITTEN MATERIALS, REGARDLESS OF THE BASIS OF THE CLAIM AND EVEN IF NEWTEK OR AN AUTHORIZED NEWTEK REPRESENTATIVE HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. The above limitations will not apply in case of personal injury only where and to the extent that applicable law requires such liability. Because some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion or limitation of implied warranties or liability for consequential or incidental damages, the above limitations may not apply to you. 6. General This License will be construed under the laws of the State of Texas, except for that body of law dealing with conicts of law. If any provision of this License shall be held by a court of competent jurisdiction to be contrary to law, that provision will be enforced to the maximum extent permissible and the remaining provisions of this License will remain in full force and effect. If you are a US Government end-user, this License of the Software conveys only RESTRICTED RIGHTS, and its use, disclosure, and duplication are subject to Federal Acquisition Regulations, 52.227-7013 (c)(1)(ii). (See the US Government Restricted provision below.) 7. Trademarks VT, VT[3], Video Toaster, Toaster and Aura are trademarks of NEWTEK. LightWave and LightWave 3D are registered trademarks of NEWTEK. All other brand names, product names, or trademarks belong to their respective holders. 8. US Government Restricted Provision If this Software was acquired by or on behalf of a unit or agency of the United States Government this provision applies. This Software: (a) Was developed at private expense, and no part of it was developed with government funds, (b) Is a trade secret of NEWTEK for all purposes of the Freedom of Information Act, (c) Is commercial computer software subject to limited utilization as provided in the contract between the vendor and the government entity, and (d) In all respects is proprietary data belonging solely to NEWTEK. For units of the Department of Defense (DoD), this Software is sold only with Restricted Rights as that term is dened in the DoD Supplement to the Federal Acquisition Regulations, 52.227-7013 (c) (1) (ii). Use, duplication or disclosure is subject to restrictions as set forth in subdivision (c) (l) (ii) of the Rights in Technical Data and Computer Software clause at 52.227-7013. Manufacturer: NEWTEK, 5131 Beckwith Boulevard, San Antonio, TX 78249. If this Software was acquired under a GSA Schedule, the US Government has agreed to refrain from changing or removing any insignia or lettering from the software or the accompanying written materials that are provided or from producing copies of manuals or disks (except one copy for backup purposes) and: (e) Title to and ownership of this Software and documentation and any reproductions thereof shall remain with NEWTEK, (f) Use of this Software and documentation shall be limited to the facility for which it is required, and, (g) If use of the Software is discontinued to the installation specied in the purchase/ delivery order and the US Government desires to use it at another location, it may do so by giving prior written notice to NEWTEK, specifying the type of computer and new location site. US Governmental personnel using this Software, other than under a DoD contract or GSA Schedule, are hereby on notice that use of this Software is subject to restrictions which are the same as or similar to those specied.

Software License and Limited Warranty

PLEASE READ CAREFULLY BEFORE INSTALLING THIS SOFTWARE. BY INSTALLING THIS SOFTWARE, YOU AGREE TO BECOME BOUND BY THE TERMS OF THIS LICENSE. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO THE TERMS OF THIS LICENSE, RETURN THIS PACKAGE TO THE PLACE WHERE YOU OBTAINED IT WITHIN 15 DAYS FOR A FULL REFUND. 1. Grant of License The enclosed computer program(s) (the Software) is licensed, not sold, to you by NewTek, Inc. (NEWTEK) for use only under the terms of this License, and NEWTEK reserves any rights not expressly granted to you. You own the disk(s) on which the Software is recorded or xed, but the Software and all copyright rights therein, foreign and domestic, is owned by NEWTEK or its suppliers and is protected by United States copyright laws and international treaty provisions. The copyright restrictions of this license extend to any further updates, software patches, or bug xes made available to you by NEWTEK, whether distributed by oppy disc, CD ROM, or in an electronic format via BBS, ftp, email, etc. This License allows you to use one copy of the Software on a single computer at a time. To use the Software means that the Software is either loaded in the temporary memory (i.e., RAM) of a computer, or installed on the permanent memory of a computer (i.e., hard disk, CD ROM, etc.). You may use at one time as many copies of the Software as you have licenses for. You may install the Software on a common storage device shared by multiple computers, provided that if you have more computers having access to the common storage device than the number of licensed copies of the Software, you must have some software mechanism which locks out any concurrent user in excess of the number of licensed copies of the Software (an additional license is not needed for the one copy of Software stored on the common storage device accessed by multiple computers). You may make one copy of the Software in machine readable form solely for backup purposes. The Software is protected by copyright law. As an express condition of this License, you must reproduce on the backup copy the NEWTEK copyright notice in the following format (c) 1990 - 2005 NEWTEK. You may permanently transfer all your rights under this License to another party by providing such party all copies of the Software licensed under this License together with a copy of this License and all written materials accompanying the Software, provided that the other party reads and agrees to accept the terms and conditions of this License. 2. Restrictions The Software contains trade secrets in its human perceivable form and, to protect them, YOU MAY NOT REVERSE ENGINEER, DECOMPILE, DISASSEMBLE, OTHERWISE REDUCE THE SOFTWARE TO ANY HUMAN PERCEIVABLE FORM. YOU MAY NOT MODIFY, ADAPT, TRANSLATE, RENT, LEASE, LOAN, RESELL FOR PROFIT, OR CREATE ANY MODIFICATIONS OR OTHER DERIVATIVE WORKS BASED UPON THE SOFTWARE OR ANY PART THEREOF. 3. Termination This License is effective until terminated. This License will terminate immediately without notice from NEWTEK or judicial resolution if you fail to comply with any provision of this License. Upon such termination you must destroy the Software, all accompanying written materials and all copies thereof. You may also terminate this License at any time by destroying the Software, all accompanying written materials and all copies thereof. 4. Export Law Assurances You agree that neither the Software nor any direct product thereof is being or will be shipped, transferred or re-exported, directly or indirectly, into any country prohibited by the United States Export Administration Act and the regulations thereunder or will be used for any purpose prohibited by the Act. 5. Limited Warranty and Disclaimer, Limitation of Remedies and Damages. YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT THE SOFTWARE MAY NOT SATISFY ALL YOUR REQUIREMENTS OR BE FREE FROM DEFECTS. NEWTEK WARRANTS THE MEDIA ON WHICH THE SOFTWARE IS RECORDED TO BE FREE FROM DEFECTS IN MATERIALS AND WORKMANSHIP UNDER NORMAL USE FOR 90 DAYS FROM PURCHASE, BUT THE SOFTWARE AND ACCOMPANYING WRITTEN MATERIALS ARE LICENSED AS IS. ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES AND CONDITIONS (INCLUDING ANY IMPLIED WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE) ARE DISCLAIMED AS TO THE SOFTWARE AND

LightWave 9 Installer: Dave Vrba Documentation: Marvin Miller, William Vaughan, Peter Jesperson, Ben Vost, Chuck Baker, Kurtis Harris,James Prentice, Jay Roth, Matt Gorner Product Marketing:

III

Copyright and Trademarks

LightWave 9.0 Copyright 1990-2006 NewTek, Inc. All rights reserved. Additional components Copyright: Steve Worley (19952006), Worley Labs (1995-2006), RainMaker (2003-2006) and Daisuke Ino (1995-2006) LightWave and LightWave 3D are registered trademarks of NewTek, Inc. FxMonkey, HyperVoxels, IntelligEntities, Motion Mixer, MultiMeshes, Particle FX, P.A.V.L.O.V., Skelegons, SkyTracer 2, Vmaps are trademarks of NewTek, Inc.

Brian Arndt, Chuck Baker, Donetta Colboch, Kurtis Harris, Marvin Miller, Jay Roth, Terry Smelker, Graham Toms, William Vaughan Special Thanks To: Tim Jenison, Jim Plant, Franck Lafage, Ben Vost, Marc Gaillard, Hiroyoshi Abe, Jennifer Hachigian Jerrard, Dave Jerrard, Richard Morton,Kevin Nations, Michael Scaramozzino,Reiner Schug, and to all the Beta Team Members and Open Beta Participants

Acknowledgements
Engineering: Chuck Baker, Deuce Bennett, Jamie Finch, David Forstenlechner, Mark Granger, Jonas Gustavsson, Bob Hood, David Ikeda, Daisuke Ino, Antti Jrvel, Peter Jespersen, Marvin Miller, Prem Subrahmanyam, Jarno van der Linden, Jay Roth, David Vrba, Chilton Webb Engineering Contributors: Richard Brak, Andrew Cross, Josh Darling, Steve Forcucci, Matt Gorner,Art Howe, Christopher Lutz, David Matthews, James Prentice, Mike Reed, Jarom Schow, William Vaughan, Scott Wheeler, Content Assembly: Kurtis Harris, Lee Stringer, Graham Toms, William Vaughan,

NewTek, Inc 5131 Beckwith Blvd - San Antonio, TX 78249, USA 1-800-862-7837 - +1-210-370-8000 www.newtek.com

NewTek Europe Europarc - 17, Av. Lonard de Vinci 33600 Pessac - FRANCE Tel.: +33 557 262 262 - Fax: +33 557 262 261 www.newtek-europe.com

LightWave 9 Table of Contents

Table of Contents

VI

LightWave 9

Volume II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Chapter 12: Introduction to Layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 The Layout Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 The Grid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Schematic View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Chapter 13: Camera Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Camera Basics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Multiple Cameras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 CameraSelector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Camera Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Resolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Pixel Aspect Ratio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Frame Aspect Ratio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Motion Blur Effects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Chapter 14: Light Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Light Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Lighting Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Basic Light Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Lights display size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Light Exclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Saving Lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Light Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Light Color and Intensity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 Shadows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Lens Flares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 Volumetric Lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 Luxigons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

LightWave 9 Table of Contents

VII

Chapter 15: Scene Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

File Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Save Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 Importing Items into Layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 Exporting Items from Layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 Image List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 Content Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 Quit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Organizing Your Items: List Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 Items Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Load Scene . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 Add . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 Replace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 Delete . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Graph Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Graph Editor: Adjusting the Curve Edit Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 Graph Editor Options (default keyboard shortcut O ) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96 Graph Editor: Editing Color Channels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 Graph Editor: Curves Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 Expressions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 Graph Editor: Expressions Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 Graph Editor: Modier Tab. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127

Scene Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133 Classic Scene Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163 Utilities Tab. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168 LScript . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169 Plugins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172

Chapter 16: Object Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185

Object Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
Object Properties Panel Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186 Object Properties: Geometry Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186 Object Properties: Custom Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192 Object Properties: Deform Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199 Object Properties: Displacement Plugins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220

VIII

LightWave 9
Object Properties: Render Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239 Object Properties: Edges Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244 Object Properties: Lights Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247 Object Properties: Dynamics Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248

Chapter 17: Previsualization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249

Creating a Preview Animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250 Layout Transport Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
Motion Blur and Depth of Field Preview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252

VIPER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252
Enable Viper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252 Surface Preview Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252 Other Preview Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253 Preview Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253

Visor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255

Chapter 18: Rigging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259

Setup Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260
General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260 Add . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261 Modify . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263 Detail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272 Edit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274 Mirror Hierarchy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276 Rename Hierarchy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277 Import RIG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277 Export RIG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279 Motions Options Panel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281

Bone Properties Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296 IKB Boost Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300

Chapter 19: Animating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319

Animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320 Keyframing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320
Navigating a Scene . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324 Playing a Scene . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325 Creating Keyframes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325

LightWave 9 Table of Contents

Creating and Modifying Keys Automatically . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326 Editing Motion Paths Directly in a Viewport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326 Deleting Keyframes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327 Delete Motion Key Plugin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327 Saving and Loading Motion Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329 DopeTrack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329 BioVision Motion Capture Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 334 Keyframer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335

ix

Modify Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337

Translate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337 Rotate. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341 Transform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342 General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343 Tools. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345 Motions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349 Global Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 358

Motion Mixer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 368

Relativity 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 380

Chapter 20: Dynamics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 402 Adding Dynamics to your Scene and Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 402 Object Properties: Dynamics Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405 Cloth Dynamics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 406 Soft Body Dynamics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 416 Hard Body Dynamics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 424 ParticleFX (Emitter) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 432 Dynamics: Collision Controller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 441 Dynamics: Gravity Controller. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 445 Dynamics: Wind Controller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 446 Additional Dynamics Utilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 448

Chapter 21: Environments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 465

Backdrop Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 466 HyperVoxels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 474 HyperVoxels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 474

LightWave 9

Chapter 22: Customizing Layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 507

Customizing Layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 508 Edit Drop Down Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 508
Undo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 508 Redo (default keyboard shortcut Z ) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 508 Edit Menu Layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 508 Edit Keyboard Shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 509 Window Cong . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 510 Window Cong Loader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 510 Layout General Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 511 Layout Display Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 516 OpenGL Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 522 Schematic View Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 527

View Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 528

Viewports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 528 View Layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 529 Layout Grid Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 529 Layout Selection Tools. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 530

Chapter 12: Introduction to Layout

VOLUME II LAYOUT

Chapter 12: Introduction to Layout

Chapter 12: Introduction to Layout

LightWave 9 - Layout It is common to see objects that have a front and back (e.g., vehicles, spaceships and animals) facing in the positive Z direction. As you will understand later, this orientation works best with LightWaves motion features. The center of the world, called the Origin, is dened by the XYZ coordinates 0, 0, 0 and represents the intersection of all three axes. Any position in LightWaves virtual world can be dened by positive and negative XYZ values. The cow is standing right over the Origin. (The Size and Stretch tools also use XYZ (scaling) values along those axes; note that these are applied relative to the objects Pivot Point, also known as the Local Origin, discussed in the next section, rather than the World Origin.)

Introduction
LightWaves Layout has been designed to provide the most efcient interface possible for your 3D animation work. By default, there is a single large viewport, but you can display multiple viewports if you desire. A viewport provides you with visual feedback about the virtual world you are creating. How well this corresponds to what the nal output will look like is completely congurable by you. This can range from bounding box stand-ins to wireframe representations, all the way to textured and solid-shaded displays. How you view your creations will vary depending on their complexity, your machines capabilities, and other factors.

LightWaves Virtual World

LightWaves world is dened using three axes: X, Y, and Z. Here weve loaded the Cow object and havent rotated it. At its default position, from front to back, the cows body is aligned along the Z axis and is facing the positive Z direction. The X axis runs left to right, with right as the positive side. The Y axis runs up and down, with up as the positive side.

World and Local Axes

Objects in a scene also have axes and, thus, an Origin, called the local Origin. When an object is rst loaded, its local Origin is lined up with the world Origin. Moreover, its local axes are lined up with the world axes. However, once you move or rotate the object, this is no longer the case. LightWave provides functions that let you move and rotate items using global or local axes. Now, most of the time youll use World, but sometimes using local will be invaluable. To illustrate the difference, lets say you are standing in the middle of a one-room house facing the front door. If you held your right arm straight out, it would point to the right side of the house, and your left arm would point to the left side of the house.

Chapter 12: Introduction to Layout Now, lets say you turned 90 degrees clockwise. (Youd be facing the right side of the house.) If I told you to point your right arm towards the houses right side (global axes), youd move it straight out in front of you. However, if I told you to point your right arm to your right (local axes), you would point to the back of the house.

There are also pseudo-physical POVs. When setting up a light, youll often want to look through it to see exactly what it points at. In such a case, youll use the Light view to look through the current light. Youll always want to see your scene from the Camera view at some point since that is the perspective used in your rendered images.

Your Point of View

By default, Layout uses a single viewport. Later on in this section, youll learn how to use up to four simultaneous viewports. You can choose between several different points of view (POV) for each viewport using the View Type popup menu at each viewports top-left corner. Manipulating items in virtual 3D space on a 2D display (i.e., your monitor) can be difcult at times, so you will switch between nearly all of these as you edit your scene.

Changing Your Point of View

With the View Control drag buttons located on the upperright edge of a viewport, you can interactively alter the orthogonal and perspective POVs. The buttons are dimmed to indicate that they are not available when you use the Light or Camera views, where they have no effect since those are based on their respective items POV in the scene itself.

It is sometimes easier to work in just two dimensions at a time. The options with the axis notations (e.g., Top (XZ)) are the orthogonal views, which let you move items in only two dimensions (horizontally or vertically), along the XY, XZ, or ZY axes. The (none) setting blanks out the viewport. Note that there are two options for each axis set. This allows you to look in either direction along the perpendicular axis (e.g., Top (XZ) and Bottom (XZ). For these, Y is the perpendicular axis.) The Perspective view is a forced-perspective view. That is, it gives you a three-dimensional look at your scene. NOTE: The orthogonal and the Perspective views are dependent on each other. Changing the position of one will affect the

Center Continuously centers the viewport on the selected item. You may also activate the Center Current Item option on the pop-up menu next to the view selector.

other.

LightWave 9 - Layout NOTE: Since you are changing your POV, the scene items will appear to move in the opposite direction of your mouse

movements.

Rotate
Orthogonal views: not applicable. Perspective view : Rotates your POVs heading when you drag left or right and its pitch when you drag up or down with the LMB. Rotates your POVs bank when you drag left or right with the RMB. For an object, the centering is based on its pivot point, which is discussed later. This is not always the center of an object. If you deactivate this mode, the existing POV position will remain until changed. As such, you can use this feature to establish a starting point if the need arises. Keyboard shortcut: Alt

Move
Orthogonal view : Moves your POV horizontally when you drag left or right and vertically when you drag up or down. Keyboard shortcut: ALT Perspective view : Moves your POV horizontally when you drag left or right and farther/closer when you drag up or down with the LMB. Moves your POV vertically when you drag up or down with the RMB. Keyboard shortcut: Shift + Alt HINT: You can use the keyboard shortcut g to center the area under the cursor.

Zoom
All views: Zooms in and out when you drag left and right. (You can also use the < and > keys.) Keyboard shortcut: Ctrl + Alt HINT: Use the keyboard shortcut a to zoom the view out to where all items in the scene are visible.

Chapter 12: Introduction to Layout

Taking Aim
Each orthogonal and perspective view is based on a single aimpoint. In other words, you are always looking at the same point in 3D space, no matter which view type you use in that viewport (except Light and Camera view, of course.) That point is also the center of the view rotation. Thats why, if you move around in the Back view and then change the View Type to Perspective, youll nd the view has moved in that view type as well. The position, rotation (affects only Perspective mode), and zoom of each viewport can now be specied numerically using the Set View... menu items in the viewport titlebar.

Viewport Display Mode

You can also set the display mode used by the viewport using the Viewport Options pop-up menu next to the View Type selector. This is much faster than using the Scene Editor Panel.

NOTE: If you are using multiple viewports, each has its own independent aimpoint and set of position, rotation, and zoom values.

Resetting Views
Also on the pop-up menu, above, are options to reset a views position (Move), rotation, and zoom to default values.

LightWave 9 - Layout

Chapter 12: Introduction to Layout

Bone Weight Shade

Activating Bone Weight Shade in the Viewport Options pop-up menu will show the selected bones inuence range in any shaded viewport. The inuence coloring is based on each bones color, which can be changed in the Scene Editor. A bright yellow is used for the currently selected bone. Note that the bone must be active to see this effect. This mode will override the normal texture display.

Bone X-Ray
There is an option to make bones visible inside opaque objects. To use, activate the Bone X-Ray option on the titlebar. Note that bones may still be invisible if the object surface is similarly colored/shaded. Change the bone colors using the Scene Editor, if this becomes a problem.

Recipe for a Scene

LightWave animations (or still images) always start as a Scene basically, a collection of objects, lights, cameras, and images, which can move and change over some specied length of time. Creating a basic LightWave scene involves the following steps: Adding items (e.g., objects and lights) to a scene Setting the starting position for all items in the scene Setting the length of the scene Placing items in key positions at certain points in time Previewing the motions of the items Setting and testing render settings Rendering the nal animation

Selecting an Item in Layout

Usually, you work on one item at a time, the current item, and you need to tell LightWave which item it is. But before you learn how to do that, you need to know that Layout items are grouped into four different types: objects, bones, lights, and cameras. When you work on any item, the edit

10

LightWave 9 - Layout

mode buttons along the bottom (i.e., Objects, Bones, Lights or Cameras) are set to the current items type.

To select an item:
There are several ways to select an item in Layout: Click on the item in a viewport; Click on the items name in the Scene Editor Panel (Scene Editor); or Manually select the edit mode and then select the item from the Current Item pop-up menu. Note that you cannot select a locked item (a little lock icon appears next to name). Use the Item Picker master plugin You can select items in a viewport by clicking on any polygon edge rather than just on a pivot point. NOTE: You can use your UP and DOWN cursor keys to cycle through the Current Item list. All items, except objects, are highlighted in yellow when selected. When an object is selected, a dotted-yellow bounding box will appear around it. Holding the Shift (or Ctrl) key will allow you to select multiple items of the same type. This can save a lot of time under the right circumstances. Such operations include Move, Rotate, and Size, as well as certain item properties, like Unseen by Rays, Unseen by Camera, Self Shadow, Cast Shadow, Receive Shadow, Bone Active, Affect Diffuse, Affect Specular, Affect Caustics, Affect OpenGL, and so on.

NOTE: You can select a bone by clicking near its midpoint, rather than its pivot point, making it possible to pick different bones that branch from the same point in a hierarchy.

Selecting Multiple Items

You can select multiple items of the same type, like all objects or all lights, and perform edits on them simultaneously.

Multiple bones in the hand object selected and rotated

Chapter 12: Introduction to Layout If the toolbar command is a state-type command and the selected items have mixed settings, the button will be shaded diagonally. Clicking the button will toggle the state of the current item and make all other selected items the same. Clicking again will toggle the state of all items.

11

HINT: If you have a scroll wheel, it may also function as a middle mouse button if you press down on it. This obviously depends on the make and model of your mouse.

Selecting by Name
Pressing the apostrophe () key launches a special selector dialog. Simply type-in a few characters that uniquely identify the desired item and click OK. You can select any type of item.

The Layout Interface

LightWaves Layout has been designed to provide the most efcient interface possible for your 3D animation work. By default, there is a single large viewport, but you can display multiple viewports if you desire. A viewport provides you with visual feedback about the virtual world you are creating. How well this corresponds to what the nal output will look like is completely congurable by you. This can range from bounding box stand-ins to wireframe representations, all the way to textured and solid-shaded displays. How you view your creations will vary depending on their complexity, your machines capabilities, and other factors.

Unselecting Items
In Layout, one item is always selected. It becomes unselected when you select a different object.

Item Selection: Bounding Box

A selection bounding box can be created by dragging your middle mouse button in any viewport. Items whose points appear within the box will be selected, and if the Shift key is held down, the items will be added to the existing selected items, if they are the same type. If items of more than one type are within the box, preference is given to those items matching the current edit mode. In addition to the viewports, this also works in other areas of the interface, such as the Graph Editor.

1. Top Tool Bar, 2. Main Tool Bar, 3. Menu Tabs, 4. Modeler Access, 5.Workspace, 6. Numeric Adjustment Controls, 7. Grid Display, 8. Selection Info, 9. Current Item and Item Properties, 10. Tool Tips, 11. List Manager, 12. Time Line and Dope Track , 13. Keyframe options, 14. Undo/Redo, 15.

12

LightWave 9 - Layout

Preview Controls.

4. Modeler Access
This command will switch to your Modeler window if it is open or opens Modeler if you do not already have it open.

1 and 2. ToolBar
The toolbar sits at the side of the screen. The buttons presented will vary depending on which menu tab you select along the top. The Top Tool Bar buttons will appear no matter which Tab is selected. You can completely hide (or unhide) the toolbar by pressing Alt+F2.

3. Layout Menus
The Menu Tabs located at the top of the interface will determine which tools appear in the Tool Bar. Generally, menu group names that are verbs contain commands based on the type of action they perform. Menu group names that are nouns contain commands based on the type of object they affect. The menu tab names are all intended to be read as verbs.

5. Workspace
The Workspace consists of Viewports. By default, there is a single large viewport, but you can display multiple viewports if you desire. A viewport provides you with visual feedback about the virtual world you are creating.

Items Add objects, lights, and other items to your scene here. Modify Move, Rotate, Scale, and more. Setup Bone tools and other rigging tools. Utilities Lscript and Plugins Access. Render Render Options, VIPER access and more. View Display options and selection tools can be found here.

Viewport Titlebar
You can change the View Type and Rendering Style of a viewport without going to the Display Options Panel by using the pop-up menus on the left side of each viewport titlebar. You can also activate Weight Shade and Bone X-ray modes.

Chapter 12: Introduction to Layout The buttons on the right side affect centering, panning, rotating, zooming, and minimising/maximising your view.

13

how much you wish it to). The grid lines are darker every tenth square for visual reference. The Origin is located at the center of the grid. You can nd the current size of the grid squares in the information eld at the very lower-left corner of the screen. The size of each grid square is adjustable as is its overall size on the Display Options Tab of the Preferences Panel (Edit > Display Options). If you adjust the size of the grid squares you also adjust the relative size of the camera and the lights within the scene.

6. Numeric Adjustment Controls

You can change Position and Rotation settings numerically by entering the desired values in the XYZ or HPB elds, located in the lower left corner. The function of these elds changes depending on the editing being done.

Protecting from Changes

Whether you are moving, rotating, or stretching an item, or moving its pivot point, Layout lets you independently deactivate any of the three components used for those settings. You deactivate the components by clicking on them on the information display in the lower-left corner of the screen. This protects the deactivated component(s) from changing as you move your mouse.

8. Selection Info
The Selection Info displays how many items are selected.

9. Current Item and Item Properties

Usually, you work on one item at a time, the current item, and you need to tell LightWave which item it is. But before you learn how to do that, you need to know that Layout items are grouped into four different types: objects, bones, lights, and cameras. When you work on any item, the Edit Mode buttons along the bottom (i.e., Objects, Bones, Lights or Cameras) are set to the current items type. Once you select the Current Item, click the Properties button to view the items properties based on the Edit Mode.

NOTE: You can also conne changes by using any of the orthogonal views (i.e., Front, Top, and Side). In these views, you can generally make changes only along the displays horizontal and vertical axes using your mouse.

7. Grid Display
The grid serves as a visual reference when you move items around, but it will never render in a nal image (no matter

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LightWave 9 - Layout left of the timeline is the rst frame in your scene and the input eld to the right is the last frame. You can change these settings by simply changing the values in either eld. The DopeTrack allows you to modify keys. You can adjust not only their position in time and the scene, but also alter their properties. You can set up markers here to tell you when things should happen in the scene and bake ranges of keys to make your animation concrete. You can open or close the DopeTrack by clicking on the thick bar above the time line.

10. Tool Tips

Displays helpful information for current tool.

11. List Manager

Located directly to the right of Current Item pulldown menu, The List Manger allows for quick and easy management of the items in your scene.

13. Keyframe options

To automatically create or modify keys you must activate the Auto Key option on the main interface. This is the global on/off switch for automatically creating keyframes. It works in conjunction with the Auto Key Create setting (General Options Tab of the Preferences Panel). Use the Create Key and Delete Key commands to add and remove keyframes.

14. Undo/Redo
The Undo function will reverse motion changes (Move, Rotate, Size, or Stretch tool) that you have made. The Redo function will re-execute a sequence of actions that have been undone, beginning with the action most recently undone. You can set the number of undo levels that you wish to have available in the General Options tab of the Preferences Panel, discussed later, in the Edit Menu section. If there are no actions available to undo, the Undo button will be ghosted. The Redo button is ghosted if there are no actions available to redo.

12. Timeline and Dope Track

The Timeline, located beneath the viewport area uses the Frame Slider which can be dragged to change the current frame or shuttle through your scene. The input eld to the

Chapter 12: Introduction to Layout

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HINT: If you are not using the Auto Key feature, you can quickly reset all aspects of a frame (i.e., position, rotation, etc.) if you havent created the key yet. Just press the Right cursor key and then the Left cursor key. This advances the current frame and then goes back to the original frame. The frame will return to the last keyframed state, or if the frame is not a keyframe, to its in-between state.

15. Preview Controls

Besides dragging the frame slider to navigate through your scene, you can also use the transport controls. In addition to playing a scene using the transport controls, you can also create special preview animations. In most cases, these will give you a more accurate preview of your nal animation.

You can nd the current size of the grid squares in the information eld at the very lower-left corner of the screen. The size of each grid square is adjustable as is its overall size on the Display Options Tab of the Preferences Panel (Edit > Display Options).

The Grid and Relative Camera/Light Sizes

The Grid
A grid of squares, made up of an planar axis at 0,0,0, is visible in any of the orthogonal views, as well as the Perspective view. The grid serves as a visual reference when you move items around, but it will never render in a nal image. The grid lines are darker every tenth square for visual reference. The Origin is located at the center of the grid.

The size of lights and cameras (that is, how they appear in the viewport) are relative to the size of the grid squares, with the exception of Area Lights and Linear Lights, which are independent of the grid square size. If you have very large grid squares, you will also have very large lights/camera compared to objects, and vice versa. NOTE: The size of the lights/cameras do not affect their functionality.

The Grid Square Size Effect on Positioning

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LightWave 9 - Layout

The Grid Square Size (Display > Options: Display Options) also determines the incremental change as you drag your mouse. Thus, a smaller size lets you edit your objects position with greater accuracy than using a larger one. If you nd that you cant edit an object with the accuracy required, try lowering the Grid Square Size. However, this will also affect the Orthogonal and Perspective view modes.

Grid Square Size Auto-Adjustment

When you start creating a new scene, your Grid Square Size will automatically adjust itself upwards only, if necessary. This can be problematic when you use objects that differ signicantly in relative size, like planets and spaceships. Objects may seem to disappear, when in reality they are just too small or too big to see in the viewport. Once you manually set the Grid Square Size or save and reload a scene, the automatic sizing adjustment is deactivated. As such, you may want to load the smaller objects rst and then manually change the Grid Square Size to the same value. Then, load the larger objects.

Each rectangle appears in the associated items wireframe color, and hidden items are shown as outlined instead of lled rectangles. Solid lines link children to their parents and end effectors are connected to their goals with dashed lines. NOTE: Also see the Display Options and Schematic View tool generic plugin. Navigation is consistent with other 2D viewports (e.g., Alt/ Alt+Shift =move, Ctrl+Alt =zoom, Center Current Item, etc.). Press the (a) key to ll all items into view or (g) key to center.

Schematic View
The Schematic viewport type is a two-dimensional view showing all items in the scene as rectangles that can be selected and moved into any arrangement. You access this mode by selecting Schematic from the Viewport Options pop-up menu on a viewports titlebar.

Parenting in Schematic View

Parent items can be assigned by holding your Ctrl key down and clicking on the desired parent for the current item. Ctrlclicking in a blank area unparents the item.

Other Schematic View Options

When you right-click an item, it displays a pop-up menu. This menu can clear, clone, rename, open the Properties Panel for the item, and set the items wireframe color.

Chapter 13: Camera Basics

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Chapter 13: Camera Basics

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LightWave 9 - Layout

Camera Basics
Introduction

The camera is the conduit for your imagination to a nal image. When creating your render you need to decide what it will be used for, what its destination will be. Will it be an image for lm or broadcast, print or computer screen? Whatever your images destination, there are two dening characteristics for it. One is how big it is, the other is the shape of the pixels that make it up. You can make all these decisions in the Camera Properties window, which will appear when you pick a camera and hit the P button on your keyboard, or the Properties button on your LightWave screen.

Multiple Cameras
You can have as many cameras as you like in a scene (well, theres a standard limit at 100, but you can increase this in the LW9.CFG cong le to an absolute maximum of 32,000). However, you can only render the current camera view. You add extra cameras into the scene by clicking on the Items > Add > Camera button, or you can clone existing ones (with Ctrl C). If you have more than one camera in a scene, you can choose the camera you wish to be active, when in Camera mode, either in the Camera Properties Panel or the Current Item button under the main Layout window.

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If you would like to see your scene play through just one camera view, you can turn off Camera Selector by clicking the Enable Dynamic Preview switch, during scene playback. For CameraSelector to work its magic, it needs information not normally available to master plugins. This is why it automatically creates a null object called SpecialTriggerNull whose only purpose in life is to serve CameraSelector. If you wish to use a different object, you can select it on the Trigger drop down menu but, normally, there is no reason to do so.

Camera Types

CameraSelector
This Master plugin allows you to switch between different cameras in Layout. The current camera is still the one being rendered but this can be used to preview camera switches in-scene or in a Preview. To access the CameraSelector, click on the Master Plugins button in the Utilities Tab. This will bring up a window with a drop down menu in which you can select CameraSelector. Double clicking on its entry in the Master Plugins list window will open the CameraSelector plugins window. To create a list of camera changes all you need do is to scrub through your scene selecting the camera you want for each shot. Simply click on the Add button in the CameraSelector window for each camera change you wish to take place. If you then start playing your scene, you will see that the camera switches at the time you stated. If you wish to remove a camera change, select the change you want to get rid of and hit delete in the CameraSelector window.

Classic Camera
Classic Camera refers to the only camera type available previous to LightWave 9. Note: If you must render points and lines, please use the Classic camera mode.

Zoom Factor
The zoom factor drop down menu allows you to set a zoom factor equivalent to a real world camera lens. It has four different types of zoom factor for you to choose from,

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LightWave 9 - Layout

but LightWave defaults to a zoom factor of 3.2, equal to a 24 mm lens. LightWave users that are familiar with real world camera equipment may nd that using the Lens Focal Length type on the drop down menu is the easiest to use. Those who are solely used to LightWaves way of doing things may be more comfortable using the Zoom Factor type. You can also use the Horizontal and Vertical FOV (Field of View) settings. These set the degree of angle of view.

Advanced Camera

Left:138 mm lens, Right: 8 mm lens

Smaller Zoom Factor or Lens Focal Length values will produce a wider angle lens effect while larger values give a narrow eld of view, similar to a telephoto lens effect. You can create an envelope to achieve effects such as reverse zooms where you pull the camera away while concentrating the eld of view. The envelope will be based on Zoom Factor regardless of which mode on the drop down you choose to use.

The advanced camera is a multi-purpose camera. With the advanced camera, you can recreate real cameras and lenses. You can shift the lens distortion over time. Custom lenses can be created by using a mesh object. Ray StartThis item denes the starting position for every Ray in the scene(world coordinate based) -Item Position: this is used for pinhole type cameras(like the standard LW camera), that is a single point in space as a ray start position.

Chapter 13: Camera Basics -Item: the item in the scene to be used as a camera -Time Sweep: this can be used to control when in time to read the item position. -UV Position on a mesh: camera plane dened as a UVmap on a mesh, I would probably recommend trying to stay within a semi square plane as a starting point as you can get highly unpredictable results otherwise, the mesh itself can be animated in any manner(quite fun to play with) -Mesh: well the mesh used for the camera plane. UV Map: Select the UV map you want to use Item XY: X and Y start position is taken from the Items cordinate system Item: what item to use as ray start Time Sweep: same as the item position Sweep function. Custom: denable with XYZ using numerical input, envelopes or textures Ray Direction This denes where the rays should go once they leave the starting position, given in world coordinates. Reverse: The direction of the ray is reversed. Towards Item Position: Each ray goes through the origin of the item. Towards UV Position on a mesh: Each ray goes through the matching UV coordinates on a mesh. Mesh UV Polygon Normal: same as above but goes through the polygon normal instead of UV coordinates. Mesh UV smooth normal: same as above but with normal smoothing. Example of Time Sweep

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Field of View: Behaves mostly like a normal camera, aligning the rays to move along the Z axis in the FOV dened by the settings. This has a couple of sub modes you can play with as well: -Perspective: Standard perspective view with denable X and Y FOV -Orthographic: Planar projection mode, area rendered is dened by size of the ray start item. -Cylinder: Y axis is orthographic while the X axis roams free, this is useful for making things like panoramas. -Spherical: Produces a similar effect as a sheye lens. The vertical settings will be disabled. The horizontal value controls how many degrees the sheye lens covers. Note that this mode affects both horizontal and vertical FoV. The eld of view has a default value of 45.24. Through item XY: rays set to go through item XY, dependant on ray start. Custom: Denable with XYZ using numerical input, envelopes or textures. Orientation Reference: Determines the orientation of the rays in relation to the selected item.

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LightWave 9 - Layout

Surface Baking Camera

Example of Spherical Camera

This camera considers each pixel as a UV coordinate, computing the position on a mesh polygon matching that UV coordinate, and shooting a ray at that position from close range. Unlike the Surface Baker shader it is multi-threaded, with the rendering done by the raytracing renderer, it works with ScreamerNet, and works with VIPER. Furthermore, as it produces a normal render, all the render buffers are available for saving. The disadvantage is that only one mesh and UV map can be rendered at a time. However, you can set-up multiple cameras, each with its own mesh and map set, and render an animation that is setup to switch to a different camera each frame. -Mesh: This is the object that you want to bake. -UV Map: This is the map on that object that you want to use as the baker map. -Offset from Surface:This is the distance from the mesh surface the ray should be shot from. Too large a value may mean that the ray encounters an intervening surface instead of the intended surface. Too small a value increases the possibility of oating point errors causing the ray to slip through the mesh surface instead of hitting it, or the ray direction to become erratic.

Example of Camera using UVMesh

Orthographic Camera
For the Orthographic Camera, the direction is the same for all rays, and the position is determined by the location of the corresponding pixel on the imaginary screen.

Perspective Camera
Similar to the Classic Camera, however there are some differences to note. The Perspective camera renders from the top of the frame down and complex scenes tend to render faster. More information to come. Points and Lines do not currently render with the Perspective Camera.

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-Direction Reference: Ray directions can be set to be equal to the polygon normal, the smoothed polygon normal, or in the direction towards the origin of the mesh. The ray will still hit the same spot on the mesh. The difference is in the direction in which the ray approaches that point. -UV Border: This is the overdraw of the UV polygon boundaries. Using this setting, you can remove the visible seams in your UV projection. -Fit UV map to image: This control just determines how to t the map to the rendered image size. Fit both width and height, or just width or height. - Flip UV Y: this inverts the map by ipping it around the Y axis. -Bake Surroundings: This allows you to ip the rays around, thereby baking the surroundings instead of the mesh. Use for baking a reection map or environment map.

Resolution

If you have Use Global checked, the Camera will use the resolution setting from the Render Globals Panel The Resolution Preset drop down menu will present you with a series of pre-dened resolutions to choose from for your render. It will automatically set the Width, Height and Pixel Aspect ratio elds. NOTE: You can add your own presets to this list, but it requires you to delve into the LW9. cfg le. If this thought doesnt scare you, then well proceed. If you look in your LW9.cfg le you see that near the top there are several lines that look like this:
ResolutionPreset 1920 1080 1 0 0 1920 1080 HDTV (1920 x 1080)

The rst two numbers are the size of the frame, the next one is the pixel aspect ratio and then the next four are the default Limited Region frame. The last bit of text is the title of the preset that will appear in the drop down menu. Feel free to make your own lines. For instance heres one you may wish to add to get the ball rolling:
ResolutionPreset 2480 3508 1 0 0 2480 3508 A4 page (300dpi)

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LightWave 9 - Layout The resolution multiplier does not scale an image after it has been rendered. Therefore, it can be used in a situation where the boss asks for an image about two thirds as large again. Deciding which resolution to use on a project is largely down to its intended use. An image for broadcast can almost always use the appropriate PAL or NTSC resolution presets. An image for print will always vary depending on the size of the nal image, whereas lm is usually one or two size settings. Both provide highresolution images that can take a long time to render and a lot of memory. If, however, you are rendering an animation for display on a computer, you will often want to use a lower resolution for reasons such as the running speed of the nal animation and its le size.

As you can tell from the title, this Resolution Preset gives you a full A4 page at 300dpi. The width and height elds can be set to anything between 16 and 16,000 pixels. Be aware that larger resolutions can make serious demands on the memory of your machine. The Resolution Multiplier gives you a much more consistent way of quickly checking a scene rather than changing the width and height elds when you want a small test render. It takes into account the scaling of things such as particle, line, and edge thickness, as well as the glow radius. If you have selected a resolution preset and you alter the width or height elds, it will override any preset and the menu will then show the word Custom. If you have already set a resolution multiplier, it will then operate on the Width and Height settings you have chosen.

Print Assistant
In the Additional menu in the Utilities Tab, you should nd the Print Assistant plugin. This will enter width and height details for your render based on inch or Pica measurements at a specied dpi rate. NOTE: You can also enter print sizes directly into the width and height elds using LightWaves ability to do maths in these elds. For instance, the seemingly complicated sum: 8.26*300 gives the width of an A4 page in inches at 300dpi. If you would rather work in metric, the width of an A4 page is 21 cm, so: 21*300/2.54 will give you roughly the same result (the /2.54 converts the sum into inches). The centimeter value is more precise since an A4 pages size is worked out based on metric rather than imperial measurements.

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Pixel Aspect Ratio

NTSC (0.9)

Once youve been using a computer for a while you forget that pixels actually come in different shapes. Ones for NTSC TV are tall and thin; ones for PAL TV tend to be a bit fatter, while ones for print are the same as those for computer screens square as square can be. The Pixel Aspect Ratio setting in LightWave is calculated by dividing the width of a pixel by its height. A pixel intended for print or a computer screen is square, as we said, so its aspect ratio is 1.0. Because NTSC pixels are taller than they are wide, the aspect ratio tends to be between 0.86 and 0.9. PAL ones, on the other hand, tend to vary between 1.01 and 1.06. Values for widescreen displays are considerably wider in both NTSC and PAL. Why worry about the pixel aspect ratio? After all a pixel is a pixel, right? Well yes, but if you look at a perfectly round ball that has a radius of 50cm and you are using an NTSC resolution preset, the ball will look squashed on a computer monitor, whereas it will look perfectly round on your NTSC monitor. When selecting one of the resolution presets you will notice that the pixel aspect ratio changes along with the resolutions for width and height. As for things looking squashed or stretched on your computer monitor, Im afraid its either something youll have to get used to, or you will need an output to a proper broadcast monitor to reassure yourself.

Computer monitor (1.0)

PAL (1.0667)

Same ball, different monitors.

Aperture Height
You can change the aperture height of your virtual camera in LightWave to match the optical characteristics of a real world camera, especially for lm work. Changing this setting will only affect the Depth of Field effect and the lens focal length.

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LightWave 9 - Layout NOTE: Aperture Height is always listed in inches, even if you are using a metric unit system.

Frame Aspect Ratio

Before we move on, dont confuse the pixel aspect ratio with the frame aspect ratio gure, often referred to simply as the aspect ratio. The way to work this out is to take the pixel width of a picture, divide it by the pixel height and multiply the result by the pixel aspect ratio. As an example, a standard VGA screen is 640 x 480. This equates to a frame aspect ratio of 1.333, which is the result of the following sum (640/480)*1 and converting it to a ratio. You will often see this gure quoted on the back of DVD cases to indicate the width of the display compared to its height (which indicates how much of your TV screen will be covered by black bars).

Furthermore you will be able to show safe areas for overscan and underscan displays by turning on the Show Safe Areas switch in the Display Options (D). You will also have a grid displayed to allow you to better divide up the frame by selecting Show Field Chart. If you are using a view other than the camera view, you will see the camera represented on-screen together with a pyramid showing its eld of view. This pyramid is only shown when the camera is the selected item.

Camera Settings in a Viewport

When you use the camera view (numeric keypad 6), areas of the viewport that are outside the render area will be colored with the overlay color chosen in Display Options (D). You can have horizontal bars showing the exclusion or they can be vertical bars, depending on the frame aspect of the render you are making.

Chapter 13: Camera Basics If you are using an orthogonal projection and you have Show Fog Circles option switched on in the Display Options (D), you will be able to see the area around the camera affected by fog. If you press Ctrl F6 and choose a standard fog type while in a top view mode, for example, you will be able to see circles around the camera indicating a minimum and maximum fog radius around the camera.

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Rendering a limited region

You can render a limited rectangular region of your scene if you only wish to test your work, rather than taking the time to render a full image. Simply hit the L key and you will see that a dotted line will surround the renderable area of the frame. You can change the size and shape of this area by clicking and dragging the left mouse button on one of the dotted lines that surround the area.

Above: What Layout looks like, Middle: Render Limited Region Borders, Right: Render Limited Region No Borders

There are two different types of limited region that you can use, either with or without borders and you cycle through these choices by repeatedly hitting the L key or by choosing the drop down menu in the Camera Properties window. The difference between a limited region with a border and one without it is the fact that a limited region with a border puts your limited region on a black page the size of a full render, whereas a limited region without borders will just render the shape you desire as the full image. The frame aspect ratio in Camera Properties will remain at the aspect ratio for a full frame, but all other options, such as antialiasing and Masks still apply.

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LightWave 9 - Layout

The limited region with border allows you to patch only a segment of a frame, rather than having to re-render the whole frame for re-compositing. This can be a major timesaver.

Memory Considerations
Limited Region allocates only enough memory to render the horizontal limited region area. If you stitch parts of an image together, you can effectively render images that are much larger than those you could render one pass. This is especially useful for high-resolution print images or in low memory situations. However, note that some postprocessing lters require a full-sized image. In such cases, you may be able to apply those lters to the stitched image in an additional step. The way to do this is to take your nal rendered image and save it to disk. Then clear your scene or better yet, quit and restart LightWave and load this image into an empty scene. Make it the camera backdrop and add whichever post-process lter you wish to use, and then render again. Since you arent rendering all the objects, textures, Image Maps, etc., the memory requirements will be a lot lower. NOTE: For information on Antialiasing, Reconstruction Filters, Soft Filter and Adaptive Sampling, please see Chapter 25: Rendering and Compositing

Masking out a region

Using a mask is a little like rendering a limited region, but allows you to dene a color for the area outside the region you dene. Set the Mask Options in the Camera Properties window. Click on the Use Mask button to open up the settings for use. The gures you enter dictate the render area; everything outside it will be the color you choose. You can use this feature to get a letterbox-style effect. Note: You must have Mask Options enabled in the Render Global Panel to use the Mask Options in the Camera Panel.

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Motion Blur Effects

When using a camera to lm fast-moving objects, these objects are often blurry. This is because they continue moving while the shutter of the camera is open. It is this feature that LightWave aims to replicate with Motion Blur.

For motion blur to work, some level of antialiasing needs to be enabled. LightWave uses these antialiasing passes to generate the additional images used by motion blur. You will be able to see the process working if you are rendering in a render view. For each antialiasing pass, LightWave seems to move the objects a little and then composites them all together to get the motion blurred image. Because only ve steps (a low level of antialiasing) can give a stepped effect, higher levels of antialiasing are recommended. There are two types of motion blur normal and dithered. Dithered provides a better quality result with double the number of images to dither in between, and doesnt take as long as using the next level of antialiasing, but provides results just as good if not better. HINT: Using Soft Filter in combination with Dithered Motion Blur creates an even better effect.

Motion blur becomes essential when animating, especially for use with live action. It prevents the crisp quality that normally pervades computer-generated animation and helps an animation appear more uid.

Left: a Particle explosion, Right:Rendered with Particle Blur on

Use a camera view and render a Motion Blur preview by hitting Shift F9.

LightWaves motion blur system takes everything that can change over time into account. From shadows, to surfaces, from light intensities to object or camera movement. It accounts for curved motion and does not blur in a linear fashion, but rather following the path that the motion is taking.

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LightWave 9 - Layout

Stereoscopic Rendering
Stereoscopic rendering gives you the familiar two-image set seen from slightly different perspectives that can be combined in a variety of ways to produce a 3D image. Further explanation of stereoscopy is outside the remit of this manual, but there are plenty of resources on the web for people interested in this eld. F9 renders will not show the two images that make up the stereogram, you will have to use the F10 render and save your images to be able to get both sides of the perspective the F9 render just gives you the left eye. When rendering using the Stereoscopic rendering function you will get two images for each frame of your animation sufxed with either an L or R for Left and Right eye images respectively. The Eye Separation eld is set by default to 60 mm the average distance between the centers of the pupils in a human adult. You can change this value to exaggerate the 3D effect.

Depth of Field

LightWave allows you to have a whole series of objects in a scene at differing distances from the camera and to render them all in perfect focus! The human visual system cant even do that, and thats the problem. For your images to look as realistic as possible, they need to use a feature of reality called Depth of Field. Fortunately, you can emulate this functionality inside LightWave. You need to render an image with antialiasing set to more than Low for the effect to be available, and then you can turn on Depth of Field. If this is going to give you unacceptably long rendering times, please also check out the image lter Digital Confusion. (described in full starting page 118).

Left: Left, Right: Right

NOTE: Use the Anaglyph Stereo image lter if you wish to make a 3D image viewed through red/blue glasses.

Depth of Field refers to the area of acceptable sharpness in front of and behind the actual area in focus. When you enable Depth of Field you can change two settings. The rst setting, Focal Distance, refers to the distance from

Chapter 13: Camera Basics the camera to the object that you would like to be in focus. The second option is Lens F-Stop. Camera focus typically encompasses a range, from near to far, that we call in focus. Objects nearer than this, or farther than this, appear out of focus. The Lens F-Stop value determines the range of focus around the Focal Distance (the near and far distances from the camera in which objects still appear in focus). If you are familiar with real world cameras, you know that the f-stop sets the diameter of the lens aperture. An f-stop of f/4 (which corresponds to a LightWave Lens F-Stop of 4) indicates an aperture diameter that is a quarter of the lens focal length (LightWaves Lens Focal Length). Higher f-stop numbers refer to a smaller aperture, because the number is the denominator of a fraction. The aperture (f-stop) control on a real camera affects both the brightness and sharpness of an image. In the LightWave world, the Lens F-Stop works in the context of Depth of Field where it affects only sharpness. The larger the Lens F-Stop value, the larger the depth of eld, that is, the greater the distance between the near and far distances where objects appear in focus. Conversely, the smaller the Lens F-Stop, the smaller the range of focused area. In general, remember that the Depth of Field becomes progressively greater as the Lens F-Stop setting increases, the Focal Distance value increases and/or the Zoom Factor (and therefore the Lens Focal Length) setting becomes smaller. When starting to experiment with Depth of Field, try using a short Focal Distance setting (shorter than the distance to the object you wish to be in focus) so that the depth of eld is more pronounced. You can also look at the scene in an orthogonal viewport and be able to see a ring around the camera indicating the focal distance of your lens the distance at which things are in perfect focus. Dont worry that the display will get confused if you are also showing fog circles in the viewport; the lines indicating the fog are visibly different to that of the focal distance.

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HINT: Rather than waiting for realistic renders when setting up your depth of eld, use the Quickshade rendering method in the Rendering Options window to get a quick preview of how blurry or sharp the objects are in your scene.

Left: Quickshade render, Right: Full render

HINT: You can get an accurate measure of the distance between the camera and your selected object using the Ruler or Range Finder custom objects. You can also set a null to be parented to the camera and linked to the focal distance envelope of the camera so that you can control the focal distance by moving the null. This way you can get an interactive distance tool to control the focal range. Heres how you do it: Add a null to your scene and parent it to your camera in the Motion Options window (M). In Layout, turn off the X and Y axes so that the null can only be moved along its Zaxis. Name this null CameraFD; Go to the Object Properties window (P) and assign the Range Finder custom object to the null. You can turn on the link to camera if you wish; Go to the Camera Properties window. Turn on at least medium antialiasing to enable the depth of eld function and make sure that the Focal Distance is set to 0 m; Hit the Envelope button next to this eld so that you can link the distance between the null and the camera to the focal distance used.

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Click on the Modiers Tab in this window and use the Channel Follower Modier. Double click on this in the list under the Add Modier drop down menu to set up the Channel Follower Modier; From the list of channels, choose the CameraFD.Position. Z channel, make sure that the time lag is set to 0, scale to 100% and start frame and end frame to 0 and 1 respectively. You can now key the position of the null and the cameras focal range will be set to the distance between the null and the camera meaning that you can pinpoint a single object in a busy scene to be focused upon. The smaller the value for the Lens F-Stop, the smaller the range of focus.

Chapter 14: Light Properties

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Chapter 14: Light Properties

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LightWave 9 - Layout

Light Properties
Lighting Introduction
Along with objects and the camera, lights are a basic element in any LightWave Scene. In Layout, a Scene must always have at least one light. In fact, LightWave will not allow you to remove the last light source. If you really dont need it, you can just turn its Light Intensity to zero or deactivate the light on the Scene Editor.

You can also place lights inside objects. For example, you may have a solid ball inside a box and you may want the inside walls of the box to be lit. Placing a point light inside the ball will shine light through the ball onto the inside of the box. Likewise, you could light the faces of a string of dominoes by placing one light aimed at the face of the rst domino in line. Of course, you may not want the light to go past the rst domino or through the ball and so there are options that allow for this realistic behaviour as well. LightWave has several types of lights, and you can give them different names, colors, and attributes. Along with lens ares, volumetric and shadow casting options, you can control light with a high degree of precision. All of these features are found within the Light Properties Panel. Along with the several lights, LightWave also features radiosity and caustic light effects, which can add tremendous realism to your scenes. Remember that LightWave lights do not act exactly like lights in the real world. For instance, you cannot see a LightWave light source, only its illuminating effect in the scene, unless you add a lens are to the light source. This is actually a handy feature because unlike a movie set, you can place lights anywhere, including in front of the camera! LightWave lights also differ from the real world because you can have negative lights that take away color, as well as diffuse and specular shading.

Basic Light Attributes

Deactivate Affect Diffuse to prevent a light from affecting the general color or brightness of a scene. This is particularly useful when you add lights to a scene for creating specular highlights. Often you want a light that creates a nice specular highlight on a surface, but you dont want it to affect the rest of the lighting.

Ambient Light
Ambient light does not come from any light source, and it produces no shadows. It is a general, ever-present light source that gets into every nook and cranny; it provides a type of ll light for objects and shadows. The Ambient Light settings are on the Global Illumination Tab (Lights

Chapter 14: Light Properties > Global: Global Illum). Selecting Ambient Color lets you choose a color for the ambient light. Changing the Ambient Intensity value lets you determine the amount of ambient light in a scene. LightWaves ambient light does not exist in the real world because it does not come from any specic source or direction. Many animators use lower intensity lights aimed in the opposite direction of the main light source to simulate reected bounce light as opposed to using LightWaves ambient light feature. Basically, these are ways to fake radiosity the bouncing of light off surfaces. Although LightWave has a radiosity option (discussed starting on the next page), these faking techniques offer greater control and faster rendering times.

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Deactivate Affect Specular to prevent the light from creating specular highlights; the light still affects the color and brightness of the scene, however. This is very nice for adding lights in a scene to approximate the look of radiosity. A scene often needs a very high number of lights to give it the appropriate realism and warmth. However, adding too many lights can cause objects with a high Specularity setting to reveal the lights presence with multiple hot spots. By disabling specularity for these lights you can overcome the problem. For similar reasons, there is the Affect Caustics option. Affect Caustics can also be turned off to limit caustics calculation to only desired lights, drastically speeding up calculation time.

36

LightWave 9 - Layout

The Affect OpenGL option is for display purposes only. It will not change the effect a light has on a rendered image. With this option you can prevent the light from affecting Layouts display, which uses OpenGL. This is important since you can only use up to eight lights to affect your OpenGL display (see the Display Options Tab of the Preferences Panel).

To remove a light:
Select the light and choose Items > Clear Selected Items or Clear All Lights.

Lights display size

Lights are displayed on the Layout screen in a size relative to the Grid. If you increase or decrease the Grid Square Size on the Display Options Tab of the Preferences Panel (Edit > Display Options), all lights change size to match the grid. This does not affect the light sources coverage or intensity at all, only its visual representation. Also, the true light source is actually located at a center point within the visual representation of the light.

To adjust a lights properties:

Select the light and open its Properties Panel (P). If the panel is open, you can choose different lights to adjust using the Current Light pop-up menu.

To add a light:
Choose Items > Lights and select the desired light type from the submenu.

NOTE: A dialog prompts you for a name when you add lights. Click OK to accept the default.

Chapter 14: Light Properties

37

Light Exclusion
You can exclude any set of lights, as well as radiosity and caustics, from the shading of any object. Simply click in the Exclude column to activate the exclusion.

You can also exclude or include all lights in the objects properties panel or all objects in the lights properties panel or invert your selection by right-clicking on the Lights heading

If for some reason you need the excluded lights to continue to cast shadows, deactivate the Shadow Exclusion option. When this global setting is not activated, all lights will cast shadows even if they are excluded. You will need to add the Shadow Exclusion command (Lights command group) to a keyboard shortcut or menu to access it. Note that adding to a menu may be preferable so that you can see its current state.

Saving Lights
Choose File > Save > Save Current Light to save the current light to a le. You save normal Light settings as well as Lens Flare and Volumetric Light settings. You can add the light to a scene by choosing File > Load > Load Items from Scene and selecting the previously saved light le which is really just a scene le with only light information.

Light Types
LightWave has several types of lights, each with their own

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LightWave 9 - Layout objects in your scene are lit as if from above the light can be a million meters or one meter above the object. You will see the exact same results on the object. In most cases, you will need only one Distant light in a scene, although you can add more. Generally, you will get much more realistic results using the other types of lights, if you need more. NOTE: Because LightWave, by default, places one Distant light aimed from the upper left to the lower right in a scene, you can simply load any object and immediately hit the Render (F9) button (without setting any key frames) to see what the object looks like.

characteristics, features, and abilities. Once you add a light, you can change its type by changing the Light Type on the Light Properties Panel.

The Distant Light

A Distant light is somewhat like the light from the sun. Surfaces receive an innite amount of parallel light rays traveling in the direction that the Distant light points to. Distant lights are handy when you want equal illumination on objects in a scene.

The Point Light

A Point light sends light out from a central location equally in all directions. Light bulbs, camp res, and reies are good examples for Point lights. In a way, a Point light is the opposite of a Distant light. It doesnt matter how you rotate a Point light since it casts light in all directions, but it does matter where it is located.

The location of a Distant light doesnt matter only its rotation is relevant. Because of this, you may place one Distant light in a scene pointing straight down and all

Intensity Falloff
Point lights, as well as Spotlights, can be set to fall off

Chapter 14: Light Properties over a specied distance. You activate the option on the Intensity Falloff pop-up menu. The falloff can be Linear or non-linear. The non-linear option Inverse Distance reduces intensity as the light moves farther from its source. The Inverse Distance ^2 uses a higher, more natural level of reduction. When using Linear falloff, the Range/Nominal Distance values set the distance from the light where the lights intensity is zero. When using Inverse or Inverse Distance ^2 falloff, the Range/Nominal Distance value determines the point where the Light Intensity reaches the Light Intensity setting, so the closer to the light source the brighter it gets.. In orthogonal views, the falloff area is visible as a circle around the light. The light will fall off to zero exactly at the edge of the circle if using linear falloff. With inverse falloff, the circle shows exactly where the falloff begins. NOTE: If you do not use Intensity Falloff, the light will travel forever, unless a shadow option is active.

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The Spotlight
Spotlights behave somewhat like their real world counterparts, sending light out in a specied direction and size. Spotlights are probably the most useful type of light available to the LightWave animator. Flashlights, car headlights, and searchlights are all good examples of Spotlights.

As you might have guessed, a Spotlight can project light onto objects using a cone of light. The size of the cone is determined by the Spotlight Cone Angle and Spot Soft Edge Angle values. The Spotlight Cone Angle determines the width of the cone of light. It is equal to the angle from the edge of the Spotlight to an imaginary line projecting straight out from the middle of the light source. So a 30-degree Spotlight Cone Angle actually denes a 60-degree arc of light. The Spot Soft Edge Angle determines the width of the falloff zone from the illuminated cone to the Spotlight edge. It is equal to the angle from the Spotlight edge to the line projecting straight out from the spotlight. Within this area, the spotlight slowly fades away to no light, thereby creating a soft edge.

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LightWave 9 - Layout

Virtual Projector
Another cool feature of Spotlights lets you use the light to project an image onto an object, much like a movie projector. You select the image to project from the Projection Image pop-up menu.

A Spot Soft Edge Angle of 0 degrees creates a Spotlight with a hard edge, while a setting less than or equal to the Spotlight Cone Angle creates a soft-edged light.

NOTE: The projected image will not conform to the circular shape of the cone angle. To do this, you could place a cookie-cutter object (e.g., a at box with a round hole) in front of the spotlight or use a paint package to edit the image and ll the unwanted area with black. You may also want to use the Blur Filter to soften the edges.

Spotlight Viewport Display

You can manipulate how Spotlights display in Layout. First, when you selected the Spotlight Cone Angle, it is represented by lines emanating from the light. If you interactively adjust the cone angle the shape of the lines will expand and contract. If you use the Light View mode (on a viewports titlebar), you see a circle that represents the Spot Cone Angle. If you adjust the Spot Cone Angle in this view, the circle

NOTE: Spotlights also have the same Intensity Falloff options as Point lights. See the preceding discussion.

Chapter 14: Light Properties remains the same size. As such, it looks like you are zooming in/out.

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Linear and Area Lights

If you could turn a two-point polygon into a light, youd have something similar to a Linear light. Light is sent out equally in all directions, except at the ends. This type of light is great to use in objects like uorescent strip lighting.

If Fit Cone is not active for the spotlight and the Map Angle is equal to or smaller than the Spot Cone Angle, you will see a square outline. This represents the Map Angle.

Now, if you could turn a four-point double-sided polygon into a light, youd have an Area light. Light is sent out equally in all directions, except along the edges. This type of light might be used for at light panels. Area lights behave, by far, the most like real world lights, but come at a cost of increased render times.

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LightWave 9 - Layout

Unlike the Distant, Point, and Spotlight lists, you can size these lights, just as you would an object. Another distinction is that ray-traced shadows will have physically accurate edges that are sharpest near the object that is casting them and get softer further away A smaller area light will result in sharper shadows than a large area light. The range of the Linear/Area Light Quality setting (for linear and area lights) is adjustable from 1 to 5 (4 is default), which corresponds to 1, 4, 9, 16, and 25 samples per area light. Lower settings reduce render times, although soft shadow edges may appear grainier. A setting of 1 is fast, but noisy; you will need to use high anti-alias levels. NOTE: When you use these types of lights, you probably need to use a Medium or High Anti-alias setting (Camera Properties) to smooth out the shadow. Keeping the light size as small as possible will also help.

Light Color and Intensity

The Light Color setting on the Light Properties Panel modies the color for the current light.

Light Intensity lets you set the brightness for the current light. You can drag the mini-slider to set a value between 0% and 100%, or enter a numeric value manually. You can even enter values greater than 100%. This is sometimes necessary, particularly when using radiosity (Global Illumination Panel). NOTE: The default light is set at 100%; however, lights added subsequently have a 50% Light Intensity setting by default.

Chapter 14: Light Properties Light intensity is additive, so if multiple lights hit a surface, their intensities are added together. As such, too high a Light Intensity value tends to wash out a scene, particularly when you have multiple lights. Eventually, the rendered image becomes solid white when the values of light sources exceed a certain brightness. NOTE: A surface hit with multiple lights which exceed a total of 100% is not necessarily bad, and usually occurs in most scenes. Elements like surface Diffuse values, shadows, light falloff, and so on, will all tend to diminish the initial light intensities.

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The falloff can be Linear or non-linear. The non-linear option Inverse Distance reduces intensity as the light moves farther from its source. The Inverse Distance ^2 uses a higher, more natural, level of reduction. NOTE: See remarks under Intensity Falloff above on page 540..

NOTE: If you do not use Intensity Falloff, the light will travel forever, unless a shadow option is active.

Light Intensity Tool

You can use the Light Intensity Tool to adjust the intensity of selected light(s) by dragging your mouse. This tool needs to be added to the menu cong by using the Edit Menus window (Alt F10) and dragging the Light Intensity Tool from the Tools Group into your menus where you want it.

Shadows
In LightWave, the light goes through objects unless the light is set to generate shadows. So unless you use a light with Intensity Falloff, the light will continue on forever.

Negative Lights
The Light Intensity can also be set to a negative value. This takes away Diffuse and Specular shading. Moreover, if you use a colored light, that is, something other than white, a negative light subtracts the light color from the surfaces it affects.

The Envelope Please

Numeric light properties can use envelopes to control their values over time. A highlighted E button signies that an envelope is in use. Clicking on the E button allows you to make changes to an envelope in the Graph Editor. Shift + LMB on a highlighted E button removes the envelope. Point lights, as well as Spotlights, linear lights and area lights, can be set to fall off over a specied distance. You activate the option on the Intensity Falloff pop-up menu.

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LightWave 9 - Layout

When a light generates shadows, it respects objects that block the beam, which keeps the light from continuing on its merry way. A shadow is created when you have a lighted area next to an unlighted or partially lighted area.

Shadow Type
You initially set lights to generate shadows via the Shadow Type setting. By default, any light added to a scene has its Shadow Type set to Ray Trace. Ray tracing a light produces accurate shadows. Distant, Point, and Spotlights produce ray-traced shadows with hard edges. Linear and Area lights produce ray-traced shadows with physically accurate shadow edges that are hard near the object casting them and softer further away.

With Shadows Inactive

Say you have a scene containing a house with a fullydetailed interior. Without shadows, if you have a light emulating the sun, its light always affects the interior of the house, even if you position the light itself outside of the house. In order for an object to cast ray-traced shadows onto other objects, it must contain polygons that face the object receiving the shadow. In other words, the surface normal of a polygon must face the surface receiving the shadow. This is rarely a problem with solid objects, but if you cast shadows of at planes, and do not see a shadow, make sure to use the Double Sided surfaces attribute or build the object with polygons facing both ways. NOTE: Volumetric lights pass directly through objects when there are no shadows.

NOTE: When ray tracing shadows, Ray Trace Shadows option (Render Options Panel) must also be active.

NOTE: Single-point polygons (particles) and two-point (lines) polygons do not cast raytraced shadows. They will, however, cast shadows with Shadow Maps.

Shadow Mapping
An alternative to ray-traced shadows is the Shadow Map option, available only for Spotlights. These are not as accurate as their ray-traced cousins, but will render much more quickly and can have a soft edge. Shadow Mapping is a derivative of the same procedure used to calculate areas that are hidden from the camera view by objects.

Chapter 14: Light Properties Instead of the cameras view, LightWave determines whether areas are hidden in the lights view. If so, these areas will be in shadow. NOTE: Make sure that Enable Shadow Maps is active on the Global Illumination Panel (Lights > Global: Global Illum) or Shadow Maps will not appear.

45

Transparent Objects
One of the biggest limitations of Shadow Maps is that they do not respect transparent surfaces or dissolved objects. The shadow appears as if the object is solid. For transparent shadows, you must use a ray-traced light source.

Ray Trace Shadows on semi-transparent aliens

Cache Shadow Map

Cache Shadow Map species that the Shadow Map for the light should be calculated only once during each render session, no matter how many motion blur passes or frames are rendered. This saves rendering time, but should be used only when the light and all objects that are illuminated by it are not moving.

Shadow Map Size

The Shadow Map Size value determines the resolution of the Shadow Map. This number represents one side of a square view, therefore the default of 512 generates a Shadow Map that is 512 by 512 pixels. The higher the setting the ner the detail of the Shadow Map. Too low a setting results in artifacts that manifest as pixilated shadows with jagged edges, or shadows that jump while animated. Remember that the Shadow Map Size has a direct correlation to memory requirements. The amount of required memory is equal to four times the square of the Shadow Map Size value. Therefore a value of 512 consumes one megabyte of memory (512 x 512 x 4 = 1,048,576 bytes = 1 megabyte. The reason for the multiple of four is to account for the four channels used - Red, Green, Blue and Alpha). A size of 1,024 consumes four megabytes of memory.

Shadow Map Area

When Use Cone Angle is active, the default, the area covered by the Shadow Map is determined by the Spotlight Cone Angle. In other words, the entire area lit by the Spotlight is calculated in the Shadow Map. Deactivating the Use Cone Angle option lets you enter an

Shadow Map

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LightWave 9 - Layout The original light color dissolves into the shadow color as the amount of shadow increases from zero to 100%. To change the density of shadows without tinting them, set the Shadow Color to be the same as the Light Color (Light Properties) and then adjust the Shadow Color value (using the HSV colorspace controls. Note: Right-click on the Color settings to change to HSV from RGB).

independent Map Angle. Use this option when you want to illuminate a large area by the Spotlight but do not have enough RAM to effectively Shadow Map the entire area, or when you need only a small area shadowed. HINT: The best-looking Shadow Maps occur when you have the largest Shadow Map Size you can afford and the smallest Map Angle possible for the given Spotlight.

Lens Flares
LightWave was the rst professional 3D package to incorporate lens ares into its arsenal. Simply put, a lens are is an artifact that appears in the lens elements of a camera when you aim it toward a source of light. It is by all denitions a defecta limitation of the camera lens. However, by imitating this defect, you can add the realism of using an actual camera to LightWave animations.

Smoothing Out an Edge

You can set the edge sharpness or smoothness of shadows cast by a Shadow Map by changing the Shadow Fuzziness value. Higher values give a fuzzier edge while lower values yield a sharper edge. A value of 0 results in no smoothing and you will see the square pixels of the Shadow Map. NOTE: Also see the discussion Object Shadow Options.

Lightening Shadows
An easy technique to lighten a lights shadow is to clone the light and set the Shadow Type to Off for the clone. Then adjust the Light Intensity of both lights so that they add up to the value for the original single light. The more intensity you give to the non-shadow light, the lighter the shadow.

Shadow Color
A Shadow Color setting is available on the Light Properties Panel. If a shadow-casting light uses the default black color (0, 0, 0), it will have no direct effect on areas that are blocked by opaque objects. This matches the behavior of previous versions of LightWave (and the real world). Using colors lets you tint shadows without having to adjust ambient lighting. This option works with both ray tracing and Shadow Mapping. HINT: While LightWaves lens ares are easy to use and the effect is often very appealing, remember that lens ares are an artifact that most lm and video directors try resolutely to avoid. Judicious use of lens ares can enhance your work, but overuse can quickly detract from it.

Chapter 14: Light Properties You use lights to position lens ares since lights cause them. Lens ares are implemented as a light property. You can use any type of light; however, Linear and Area lights will generate only a single lens are, as do the others. The light retains all of its normal lighting functions, but when it appears within a frame, a lens are is generated. NOTE: Make sure that Enable Lens Flares is active on the Global Illumination Tab in the Render Globals Panelor LightWave will not create lens ares. Understand that lens ares are an additive effect, which means they are added to a rendered image after LightWave calculates the scenes appearance. Because of this, you can accidentally create too many ares, or ares so hot that they wash out other items in the scene. Of course, this may be a desired effect, such as when a large explosion takes place. Since lens ares are an additive effect, they will not show up in an alpha channel saved image. Moreover, since ares theoretically exist only in the lens of the camera, they will not show up in any reections or refractions in an objects surfaces. NOTE: You can add lens ares to the alpha channel of your render by adding the Flare2Alpha LScript to the Image Processing > Image Filters window. Step 3: Activate Enable Lens Flares. Step 4: Select the light.

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To set up a lens are:

Step 1: Open the Render Globals Panel Render Tab.

Step 2: Make sure there is some percentage of Global Lens Flare Intensity. 100% should work in most instances.

Lens Flare Options

The central glow of a lens are light source is white, while the glow around it is tinted by the lights Light Color. Unlike real lens ares, LightWave gives you tremendous control over how your ares look. Additionally, since lens ares are used by LightWave animators for more than camera lens artifacts, there are some options that help the ares look more like real physical phenomena, like re, glowing, and explosions.

Step 5: Click Lights Properties Panel> Lens Flare to turn the option on for the selected light.

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LightWave 9 - Layout NOTE: You can also access the Lens Flare state and Lens Flare Options Panel from the Lights Properties Panel.

Lens Flare Viewport Preview

You can see an approximation of your Lens Flare settings in any viewport using the Camera view. You must activate the OpenGL Lens Flare option on the Display Options Tab of the Preferences Panel (Edit > Display Options). Note that this is just an approximation of how the actual lens are will appear and the actual rendered effect will likely be somewhat different.

Step 6: Click Lights Properties Panel > Flare Options and set the options as desired.

NOTE: Not all lens are options can be seen in the preview, so you need to do test renders (F9).

Fade and Dissolve Options

Flare Intensity sets the brightness of the lens are. The default value is a good starting point. Select Fade Off Screen when you want a lens are light source to reduce its are intensity automatically as the light source enters or exits at the edge of the screen. This

Chapter 14: Light Properties simulates the properties of actual lens ares within a lm camera. When this option is not active, the lens are will remain constant as it moves off screen. Activate Fade In Fog when you want a lens are to automatically reduce its are intensity as it is affected by the minimum and maximum distances set for fog on the Effects Panels Volumetrics Tab ( Windows > Volumetrics and Fog Options). The further into the fog the lens are is, the less bright it will be. Once past the maximum fog distance, the lens are is completely dissolved by the fog. If Fade in Fog is not selected, the lens are will remain bright no matter how far away it is. Select Fade Behind Objects when you want a lens are to reduce intensity automatically as the light moves behind other objects in the scene. This simulates the properties of actual lens ares within a lm camera. Flares even change color when passing behind stained glass windows with the Fade Behind Objects option, which uses ray tracing to determine when lights are obscured by objects. If you do not select this option, ares will appear through objects. meters, it climbs to twice the intensity, 200%.

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Enter a Flare Dissolve value to adjust the transparency of the lens are effect. This option is handy when you wish to see large streaks of light coming from the lens are but do not want a bright hot spot at the center of the are. The higher the Flare Intensity, the larger the streaks (if selected), and the brighter the are. Flare Dissolve values below 0% or above 100% are not useful, since the are is either fully visible or fully invisible and cannot be more so.

Glow Options
Central Glow is a glow of light at the center of the light source are. This is the color of the light source. Red Outer Glow is a luminous, soft-edged red glow around the light source, available only when Central Glow is active. You may want this option off for deep undersea environments, where the color red is not visible. Glow Behind Objects simulates a glow that surrounds a light source. This effect is different from that of a true lens are, and should not be confused with that effect. A true lens are is a phenomenon that occurs within the camera lens and thus appears to be in front of all objects in a scene. When the light source that causes the are is obscured by objects between it and the camera lens, the are fades or disappears depending on whether the light is partially or completely obscured (an effect that is handled by the Fade Behind Objects option). Glow Behind Objects is designed to simulate glows physically located at the light source rather than within the lens. These glows are caused by the illumination of a medium surrounding the light (such as murky water or foggy atmosphere) as opposed to true lens ares, which are caused by diffraction and reections among the glass elements inside a lens assembly. Unlike true lens ares, glows, at a distance, can be partially visible even if the light source itself is obscured.

Left: Normal Flare Settings, Right: Fade Behind Objects selected

Selecting Fade With Distance will automatically fade a lens are as its distance from the camera increases. If you bring a are closer to the camera, it grows brighter. The Nominal Distance eld, active only when Fade With Distance is selected, is the distance from the camera where the are is at its input intensity. For instance, if your Flare Intensity is 100%, and your Nominal Distance is 10 meters, moving the are to a distance of 20 meters causes the intensity to drop to 50% (at twice the distance it drops to one-half the brightness). Conversely, at half the distance, 5

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LightWave 9 - Layout

Left: Normal Flare Settings, Right: Glow Behind Objects selected

Central Ring
Central Ring is a small ring of light, like a halo, surrounding the light source. The Ring Color option controls its color. The rings size is set by the Ring Size value, which defaults to 22%. HINT: Use an enveloped Ring Size for shock waves or other similar anomalies.

Streaks
Star Filter is a pop-up that lets you choose the number of points on the star-shaped streaks that emanate from the are. The + n secondary options add in-between minor streaks. You can rotate the streaks with Rotation Angle. Positive values rotate the streaks clockwise as seen from the camera. Negative values rotate the streaks counterclockwise.

Anamorphic Distort
Anamorphic Distortion causes the lens are to stretch horizontally. This simulates the effect of the wider lens ares you see in motion pictures lmed in Panavision. The Distortion Factor acts as an aspect ratio control. The height of a are is determined by its Intensity setting and proximity to the camera. The relative width of the are is determined by the Distortion Factor. The default value, 1.77, sets the ares width at 1.77 times the ares height. A default value of 3 causes the ares width to be three times wider than it is tall, and so forth. The higher the value, the more elongated the are. To distort the are vertically, enter a value less than 1. The lower the value, the taller the are.

Off Screen Streaks allow lens ares that move off the visible screen area to continue to cast occasional streaks across the LightWave camera and into the scene.

Chapter 14: Light Properties NOTE: You must activate Fade Off Screen to use Off Screen Streaks.

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NOTE: A very low Streak Sharpness value (like .0001) will blur the streaks into each other to create a glow-like effect.

Anamorphic Streaks are elliptical horizontal blue streaks emanating from the lens are light source. This simulates the effect of similar streaks seen in motion pictures lmed in Panavision. The Random Streaks options adds dozens of tiny random streaks of light emanating from the light source. The intensity of these streaks is governed by the Streak Intensity, which is a percentage of the brightness of the lens are. The higher the value, the brighter and larger the streaks. The default value of 3.0% produces streaks that closely match those found in lm.

Lens Reections
The Lens Reections option adds reections of light in the LightWave camera, as if it were shooting the scene through a standard camera lens assembly. This effect emulates the multiple lens elements that make up a typical lens. Such ares commonly occur whenever you aim a camera at an intense light source.

If either the light source or the camera is moving, then the reections will move across the screen also. This can be a dramatic effect. Streak Density sets the number of random streaks. The number you enter is used as a rough approximation to determine the actual number of streaks, but your results will be close to the value entered. Higher values make for more streaks. Streak Sharpness determines how dened the random streak edges fall off and blend into the background. Low values blur the streaks together, making for softer, wider streaks. Higher values create very distinct streaks. The default value of 6.0 closely matches streak effects found in lm.

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LightWave 9 - Layout HINT: To get the most visibility out of Lens Reections, place the lens are light near the side or corner of the cameras view.

The Polygonal Element Shape will change the shape of the reections. The sided settings simulate lenses with n -blade irises. Since theres just one iris per lens on a real camera, all polygonal reections in a particular are have the same shape. Settings are global for the scene, which means that different lights cant have different patterns.

Element 15 (Yellow) Left: Position = -1, Middle: Position = 0, Right : Position = 1

An Element Size of 100% vertically ts the element to the camera resolution. It can be clipped or there can be space to the left and right, depending on the relative Camera Resolution Height setting. NOTE: A reection using a Bright Center Element Type will not be the same size as the Even Center.

Some of the available Shapes

You can modify the default Element Type, Element Position, Element Size, and Element Color for each of the sixteen reection elements. To edit an element, rst select it using the Current Reection Element pop-up menu. The elements are aligned in a straight line going through the center of the cameras view through the light. By default, the Elements 1 through 16 are aligned starting near the light, then through the center and on to the opposite side. However, each elements position could be anywhere, if you want it to be. An Element Position of 0 is at the center of the screen, 1 at the lights position and -1 on the opposite side. You can use values beyond 1 or -1 to move elements past those positions.

The Element Type setting determines the shape and density characteristics of the reection.

Circle- Bright Center, Even Center, Dim Center

Circular- Ring

Chapter 14: Light Properties

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Volumetric Lights
Volumetric Lighting turns a selected light into a volumetric light. This gives lights or more accurately their beams physical volume. These effects are common in everyday life and can play a key role in creating dramatic and realistic environments.

Polygon- Bright Center, Even Center, Dim Center

Circular- Ring

Rainbow Ring

Shape.

NOTE: If you select a Polygon Element Type, you should also choose a shape other than Circular as the Polygonal Element

NOTE: The viewport display will not show all lens reection attributes.

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LightWave 9 - Layout NOTE: Use Enable Volumetric Lights On/Off to enable or disable all volumetric lights in the scene. Click the Volumetric Light Options button to display a selected lights volumetric options.

NOTE: Also see the Volumetric Antialiasing option on the Volumetrics Tab of the Effects Panel, explained on page 104. An outline of the volume for volumetric lights is displayed in Layouts viewports.

NOTE: Linear and Area lights cannot be volumetric.

Sprite Mode: This mode will render the effect much faster. However, there are a few limitations, the biggest being that volumetric shadows will not be cast. Also, in some cases, the light textures will look unnatural this occurs mostly with spot lights when looking in the direction of the light. Note that the Quality setting becomes unavailable when using this mode. Quality: Use the lowest Quality setting that achieves acceptable results. Obviously, higher settings will take longer to render. Effect Dissolve: Effect Dissolve reduces the amount of the effect. Fade in Fog: Activate Fade in Fog for volumetric lights to dissolve into fog, just like lens ares can.

Chapter 14: Light Properties Opacity Casts Shadows: This option causes volumetric lights to cast ray-traced shadows based on the volumetric lights Opacity setting. If Opacity is set to 0, no shadow will result. (Since shadows are ray-traced, the illuminating light must have Shadow Type set to Ray Trace and Ray Trace Shadows needs to be active on the Render Options Panel.) Radius: Radius is the radius of the volumetric beam for Distant and Point lights. Cone Base: If the light is a Spot, the Cone Base setting (replaces the Radius setting) lets you adjust where the base of the cone begins. Height is the length of the beam for Spotlights and Distant lights. Edit Nodes: Activated, this option allows you to use options from the Node Editor. Luminosity is the strength of the effect. Values can be positive or negative. Negative values have no physical sense, but you can use them to create interesting effects. A 0 value means that no light is emitted from the medium, which can be useful if you want dark smoke or dust effects. Opacity is the effects surface opacity, that is, how nontransparent the effect is. A high value will cause an object inside and behind to blend into the effect. Negative values are allowed, and can cause dense areas to become very bright. You may need to increase Luminosity to compensate for increased Opacity settings. Attenuation determines how fast the effect declines in intensity as the light leaves the emitting point. The default value is 25%. Low Attenuation values will make dense areas become very bright and totally saturated. High values will make dense areas darker and make the volume boundaries brighter.

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NOTE: Some level of attenuation always exists, even if you set Attenuation to 0%.

The Red Shift setting works in conjunction with Attenuation, controlling the interior behaviour of light. When light scatters from one point, it must travel inside the medium from the point of emission to the viewer. During this travel, the light attenuates depending on the length of the travel and on the lights wavelength. The sky is a good example of this: at sunset, light from the sun gets red because the thickness of the atmosphere crossed at the horizon is more than at the zenith. Red light is attenuated less over long distances, thus the horizon is red while the sky is blue. The Red Shift parameter is used for this: 0 values means that Attenuation is not wavelength dependent, which means that light will be attenuated with no color changes. Positive values will make the color shift towards the red, while negative values will make a shift towards the blue. Density controls the global density of the medium. This essentially works like a multiplier for Luminosity and Opacity. Specify Medium Color Activate this option to set the color of the medium (i.e., the substance) through which the volumetric light is transmitted.

Light Textures
To add a texture to the volumetric effect using the Texture Editor, click Edit Texture. The Enable Texture option must be active to apply the Texture settings. Deactivating it will not affect any existing settings. The Texture Only option means that the texture is not blending with the base color, but replacing it totally.

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LightWave 9 - Layout creating aliasing patterns, you can easily correct this by increasing the Shadow Fuzziness value (Light Properties). This is a better solution than increasing the Volumetric Light Quality setting, which increases render times. Note: If you are using the Node Editor with Volumetric Lights and using the Raytrace Node, or any node that samples the scene recursively, or a node that multi-samples, this can increase render times signicantly.

Left: Marble Texture on Point Light, Right: Fractal Noise Texture on Point Light

Left: Gradient and Turbulence on a Distant Light

The VIPER Window and Presets

To use the Preset Shelf or VIPER window, activate those options on the main Layout interface, or by pressing F7 for Viper and F8 for Presets. With these weapons you can quickly set up lighting as you like. NOTE: You can preview animated textures with VIPER.

Volumetric Shadows within Lights

To achieve volumetric shadows within lights, make sure you enable Shadow Maps, if you are using shadow map shadows. If you are using ray-traced shadows, activate the Ray Trace Shadows option on the Render Options Panel (Rendering > Render Options). Note that it is much better to use Shadow Maps because they render much faster and you can control the fuzziness of the shadows. If you nd that the shadow rays are

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Luxigons
Luxigons are very similar to Powergons, but are specialised just to add lights and set certain light properties. To use, in Modeler select the desired polygons and choose Setup > Add Luxigon. When the dialog appears, select the type of light you wish to add and set its properties.

You can clear Luxigons from selected polygons using the Setup> Clear Powergons command.

Next, load the object into Layout and choose Items> Lights > Convert Luxigons. If you wish to use an existing lights properties, select it in the Clone Item pop-up menu. Enter the desired name of the new lights in the Light Name eld. After you click OK, the dened lights will be created, positioned at the center of the appropriate polygons, aligned with the polygons normal, and parented to the object.

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LightWave 9 - Layout

Chapter15: Scene Management

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Chapter 15: Scene Management

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LightWave 9 - Layout Moving points can change the shape of an object, sometimes dramatically. However, generally, the number of points and polygons, as well as their relationship, remains the same. WARNING: Understanding object and scene les is fundamental to understanding LightWave. For example, say we had a ag object that was a atsubdivided rectangle. In Layout, we could make the ag wave using something called a displacement map essentially this animates the points in the object. The displacement map settings are saved in the scene le. The underlying ag geometry and surface settings are stored in the ag object le.

Scene Management Introduction: Organizing your Scenes

Taking on a CG project can be a challenge, whether it is a simple scene with one object, one light, and one camera, or a complex scene with hundreds of objects, bones,surfaces, dynamics and everything else in-between. Keeping it all organized is key to a successful project and this chapter is all about the tools you can apply to keep your scenes manageable. Starting with the basics of loading and saving items in a scene, the chapter then progresses from management tools like the List Manager onto more complex tools such as the Scene Editor and Graph Editor.\

File Menu
Layouts File menu contains common le management commands and tools.

Load Scene (default keyboard shortcut To load an existing scene:

Ctrl O )

Clear Scene
Clear Scene (File> Clear Scene) will remove all data from Layout and return Layout to its default setup. All unsaved data will be lost.

Step 1: Make sure the Content Directory is set properly. Step 2: Choose File > Load > Load Scene and use the le dialog to navigate to the desired scene le. When the scene is loading, a progress dialog will appear. You may abort the load operation by clicking the Abort button; however, this may result in a partially loaded scene.

Load Commands
The important difference between loading an object directly versus loading from a scene lies in what is stored in an object le versus what is stored in a scene le. The object le contains only the object geometry and surface settings what the object looks like in its most basic state. There is no movement information in an object le. Movement information is saved in the scene le. However, this is not only movement in the normal sense, like moving an object from point A to point B, but also includes movement of the points in their positional relationship to each other.

Recent Scenes
Choose File > Load > Recent Scenes, and select a Scene le from the submenu.

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Load Items From Scene

Load Object (default keyboard shortcut +)

When you set up a new scene, you will need to load the appropriate objects into the scene.

To load an object le into a scene:

Step 1: Make sure your Content Directory is properly set. This will help with any images that are referenced in the object le. Step 2: Select File > Load > Load Object and use the le dialog to navigate to the desired object le. (Note: Multiple objects may be loaded when more than one is selected in the le dialog.) Loading objects from a scene is accomplished using File > Load > Load Items From Scene. After you choose the scene, a panel will open up and you will have the option to choose which items from the scene you would like to load. Double-clicking on the root of an item type, for example Lights, will enable/disable all items of that type. The object layer number will be listed when loading a multi-layered object. Expand and Collapse will perform the respective function on the root of the item. Select all selects all items and Select None deselects all items. NOTE: Be aware that when the rst child in the chain becomes the new parent of the remainder of the chain, some transformation issues may arise as that child is no longer bound by the parents transformations. These transformations will have to be cleaned up manually after the scene is loaded. HINT: Alternatively, you can press the + (plus) key on your numeric keypad, which adds the appropriate item based on the active edit mode selected at the bottom of the screen (i.e., Object, Bones, Lights or Cameras). If the object contains multiple layers of geometry, each layer will be loaded as a separate editable item in Layout. An object is initially loaded so that its local Origin is at the global Origin and its local axes line up with the world axes.

Load Object Layer

Choose File > Load >Load Object Layer to load a specic layer from a multi-layer object. A dialog will appear allowing you to dene which layer to load.

Load Multiple
The Multiloader command allows you to use the standard Load Object, Load From Scene, and Load Lights from Scene, with the added ability of selecting how many times you want to load the selected items.

Revert Scene to Last Saved

This option will close the current scene and re-open it to the last saved version.

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LightWave 9 - Layout handy when you are wanting to save your scene in various stages. NOTE: An asterisk will appear next to the names (on the current pop-up menu) of scenes that have been modied since their

last save.

Load Motion File

Load a saved motion le into the selected item by choosing File > Load > Load Motion File. NOTE: Modelers Path Extrude and Path Clone commands use these les to execute their operations.

Save Current Object

You should always save objects after you have altered their surface settings. To save an object: 1. Make sure your Content Directory is properly set. 2. Select the object you want to save. 3. Select File > Save > Save Current Object to save... you guessed it... the current object.

Save Commands
Save Scene (default keyboard shortcut S)
This option saves the current scene using its lename. If the scene has never been saved before, this is the same as using Save Scene As.

Save Object Copy

Choosing File > Save > Save Object Copy will allow you to save a copy of an object using a new name, without affecting the object used by the scene.

Save Scene As (default keyboard shortcut

Alt S )

Save Object Increment

This option gives you the ability to save a version of an object by adding incremental numbers to the objects name. This is handy when you are wanting to save your object in various stages. NOTE: An asterisk will appear next to the names (on the current pop-up menu) of objects that have been modied since their

This option opens a le dialog letting you name (or rename) the scene before saving.

Save Scene Copy

Choosing File > Save > Save Scene Copy will allow you to save a copy of a scene using a new name.

Save Scene Increment (default keyboard shortcut

Shift S )

This option gives you the ability to save a version of a scene by adding incremental numbers to the scenes name. This is

last save.

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Save All Objects

You can also use the File > Save > Save All Objects function to save all objects in the current scene. WARNING: Use Save All Objects with caution. Be sure it is what you really want to do!

Save Motion File

To save the selected items motion path to a le, choose File > Save > Save Motion File.

Importing Items into Layout

Mocap_BVH_Setup

Save Trans Object

Choose File > Save > Save Transformed Object to save an object with any changes of location, rotation, scale, morph, skeletal deformation, displacement map, and so on. The new object is also saved relative to the Origin. The current frame in Layout controls the state of the saved object. NOTE: There is a unique quality to an object that uses displacement mapping with an image (planar, cylindrical, or spherical) as well as surface color mapped with an image. With the displacement map altering the objects shape, the color map is also bent to follow the contours of the transformed object. However, if you save this reshaped object with Save Transformed Object, it will now be permanently reshaped and the surface color mapping will no longer match.

LightWave provides a couple of plugins to support the BioVision (BVH) motion capture le format. (the other is The MoCap_BVH_Setup generic Layout plugin reads a BioVision BVH le, creates bones, and applies the motion capture data to them. This is one, the other is the plugin Motion Capture Preview attached to the geometry of a null in Object Properties.

Save Endomorph
You can save the current mix of your morphs back into the endomorph by choosing File > Save > Save Endomorph. The morph will appear on a new Miscellaneous tab on MorphMixer. (Note that you may need to remove and then re-add MorphMixer.) Dont forget to save your object if you want to keep the new morph.

Set Start frame offset to the frame you want the motion to begin. The Bone name postx is simply a number appended to the end of all of the bone names (e.g., LeftKnee_1). After you run the plugin, replace the top null (in the created bone hierarchy) with the object to be animated. You could also use the Use Bones From Object feature on the Bones Properties panel. If you need to change the initial resting position of bones, make sure you reset their rest positions (use the r key). Youll probably need to adjust some of the individual bone properties after you run the plugin.

Save Current Llight

This command will save a scene le that contains the currently selected light and the lights properties.

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LightWave 9 - Layout displacement map and bone effects on SubPatch objects). High-performance output 3D Sounds Level-of-detail object replacement animation Object instancing Vertex color and lighting support Multiple custom viewpoints Custom VRML nodes Touch activated behaviours Viewer proximity activated behaviours Object visibility activated behaviours Objects output as prototypes (PROTO) denitions (optional) Scene object ignore Standard object viewpoints (optional) Optional embedded objects for single le scene output! Optional lowercase conversion for embedded object/ image lenames Direct avatar navigation speed control Improved compliance for export to VRML97 editors, including conversion of illegal VRML97 names (like 2Legs or My Light), and reection of illegal negative scaling

Lightgen2lw
This plugin will read in HDRShop data that has been generated with LightGen. For more information about LightGen visit: http://www.ict.usc.edu/~jcohen/lightgen/ lightgen.html

Exporting Items from Layout

Save 5.6 Scene
This command will save the scene data to the LightWave 5.6 scene format to ensure that older versions of LightWave can read the le.

Export Scene As VRML97

The VRML97 Exporter plugin (File > Export > Export Scene as VRML97) creates a VRML97 World based on the current scene. The VRML output complies with the ISO-VRML97 specication. The objects in the scene may be saved as separate les into the Content Directory or an alternate path. The following list shows some highlights: Accurate Translation Keyframed hierarchical animation Light intensity envelopes, including ambient Non-linear fog Color image texture mapping using projection or UV maps Solid, non-linear gradient and image backgrounds Support for SkyTracer warp image environments Particle animation with single-point-polygon object to PointSet node conversion Two-point-polygon object to IndexedLineSet node conversion SubPatch object morph capture (for capturing morph,

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VRML Creation Settings

Local .wrlPath is the le path on your machine where external VRML objects will be found and/or saved. This will default to the current LightWaveContent Directory. VRML Object URL is the URL where browsers will search for external objects, this should be the web equivalent of the local path (e.g., http:\ \ www.someplace.net\ vrml_objects\). Text entered into the Texture URN eld will be pre-pended to texture map image lenames, as an alternate texture location. This should facilitate work with libraries like the Universal Media textures. This information, when specied, will appear in addition to the regular URL elements.

Output .wrl is the le path for the VRML97 World. Author is comment text to embed in the le. Use Prototypes is used to dene and use objects in the VRML scene more efciently. Some older importers may not like this, but it is required for morph capture. When Lowercase Filenames is enabled, the lenames used in the le can all be converted to lowercase. This can be helpful on UNIX-based Web servers, where lenames are case sensitive, and links with mismatched cases will fail. Use Embed Objects to include the geometry for all meshes in the main VRML97 World le. This may be more convenient, but for complex worlds, or reusing objects, it is less efcient. Using external object les allows the main world to load faster, and display bounding boxes while the objects are loaded. This option must be off for morphing objects as well as LoD objects - loading them all at once would defeat their purpose! If Overwrite Objects is enabled and the Embed Objects option is not used, external object les will be created for objects in the scene. If the objects already exist, this option must be enabled to overwrite the objects, thus updating surface or morph changes.

On the Scene Item pop-up menu, select a scene element to which you want to apply the settings on this tab. The Sensor Type is the sensor used to start the items animation. For some sensor types, like Proximity, a distance range is required. When the viewer approaches the item within the Range, the animation is triggered.

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LightWave 9 - Layout between captured morph keys. Making this too small results in huge objects; making it too large results in an animation that is not smooth or points with motion that is too linear. Enable Loop to repeat the morph animation, once it has been triggered. Enable the AutoStart option to make the animation start as soon as the world is loaded.

Alternate Trigger is an alternate item to serve as the animation trigger for this item.

On the Object pop-up menu select an object whose settings will be edited on this tab. The Ignore Object option will exclude a selected object and its children objects from export. Use Attach Sound to add a sound effect, triggered with the selected objects animation. Enter the URL for the audio le triggered in the URL eld. You can also set the volume and whether the sound should be looped once it has started. The Record Morph option saves a Morph Object a special animated Proto object in place of the standard external object les. This requires that the exporter step through the animation and capture the deformed mesh at different times. The deformed positions are used in a CoordinateInterpolator node hidden in the morph object. This currently works for SubPatchobjects. First Frame is the starting frame for the Morph Object animation. Last Frame is the nal frame in the morph capture for this object. Frame Step is the number of frames

Use the Navigation Mode pop-up menu to set the initial navigation mode for Web browsers. Enable Headlight for good defaults in dark places. Standard Viewpoints creates extra ViewPoint nodes (top, left, etc.) for scene and external objects. Avatar Size lets the browser set appropriate movement for the dimensions of your world. Global Light Scale globally scales all light intensities. Environment Images are warp images generated by SkyTracer. These map nicely to VRMLs idea of environment mapping. Enter only the basename portion of the image les. (For example, if you had skyWarp__back.jpg,

Chapter15: Scene Management skyWarp__front.jpg, etc., you would enter skyWarp.) Note that any panoramic images should be compatible, provided they are renamed to match the SkyTracerlen amingconvention. The text in the Image URN eld will be pre-pended to the image lename and added to the list of URLs for the environment image.

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VRML scenes also include multiple point lights, directional lights, and spot lights with adjustable cones. The VRML equivalent of the LightWave camera is a viewpoint. The exporter will add a named viewpoint for each camera in the LightWave scene, which browsers can use to jump between points of interest or standard views. In addition, VRML objects created by LightWave may include a set of standard viewpoints for the object.

So What is VRML?
VRML, also known as ISO-VRML97 (ISO/IEC 147721:1997), stands for Virtual Reality Modeling Language. It is a standard for describing 3D objects and scenes via the Internet. Like HTML-based web pages, VRML worlds can contain links to remote les. However, rather than using text or images for links, VRML uses 3D objects. As a result, the Web browser for VRML resembles a 3D animation program or video game more than a word processing program. VRML worlds can be embedded in HTML pages and vice versa. VRML models are based on either primitives, like spheres, cubes, and cones, or, more likely, sets of points and polygons. Since the latter is basically the approach used by LightWave3Ds polygonal models, there is a pretty good match between LightWave scenes and VRML worlds. Before you can view any of your VRML creations, youll need to get a VRML 97 Browser. The VRML les produced by LightWave are text les that follow LightWaves style of separate object and scene les. This is not a requirement of VRML, but a powerful feature that lets a VRML scene include objects from different les, even from some remote library. These external objects in the scene le consist of a le URL, a bounding box, and a set of position, rotation and scaling transformations. The bounding box information is used by browsers to render stand-ins while the objects are loaded.

Animation
Objects in your LightWave scene that have keyframes in any motion channels will be given linear motion keys in the VRML le, through PositionInterpolator and OrientationInter polatornodes. The Pre Behaviour and Post Behaviour set for the channels in the LightWave motion has a critical inuence on the VRML behaviour of an object. If the Pre behaviour is set to Repeat, the motion will begin when the world is loaded and keep on playing. Otherwise the motion will begin when the item is triggered. If the Post behaviour is set to Repeat, the animation will loop until re-triggered, otherwise it will stop after playing. The default triggering is a click (TouchSensor) on the object that causes the animation to run from the beginning. Currently, the TouchSensorswitch is placed on the highestlevel animated object in a hierarchy, and triggers the animation of all the children simultaneously (as one would expect). Morphing in VRML uses a CoordinateInterpolator node. The node is part of the Proto in the object le, if morph data has been captured. For this reason, Prototypes should be enabled and embedded objects disabled for morphing worlds.

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LightWave 9 - Layout

Surfaces
Double-sided surfaces are not supported in VRML97. Thus LightWave objects with polygons whose surfaces are double-sided are translated as if they werent doublesided. VRML objects that seem to be missing polygons may actually have double-sided surfaces that need to be either ipped or aligned in Modeler. If the surface is truly meant to be double-sided, you will need to model the geometry with double-sided polygons. If your model has a texture map image associated with it (color only, not diffuse, specular, etc.), there are a few tricks that can minimise the nuisance of hand-editing your VRML models. Since some browsers will have to load the image named in the object, that image name, saved in the LightWave object, is critical. It pays to use LightWaves Content Directory system properly, so that the image path will be relative to that content directory (i.e., images\ wood.jpg rather than C:\ NewTek\ images\ wood.jpg). You may also want to move the image to the Content Directory so that the name in the object will have no path, and browsers will seek the image in the same directory as the object. In any event, wherever the VRML object nally resides, you will want a matching directory hierarchy where the browser will nd the image or you can just edit the VRML le. Another image issue is that of le format. JPEG and GIF images are almost universally supported on the Web, but the PNG format is gaining acceptance as a modernised, yet unencumbered, replacement for GIF. JPEG images are nice and small, and compression artifacts should be virtually invisible at Web/VRML resolutions. If you have nice high quality texture images for your rendering work and want VRML versions, make smaller JPEG versions of the images for the Web. Large textures may be limited by the browsers rendering engine in most cases anyway. When you install the VRML model, just use the smaller JPEG image or edit the VRML le.

LightWave VRML Implementation

The organization of LightWaves VRML object output follows that of LightWaves own object format. A list of XYZ coordinate triples describe the vertices in the object. For each surface, there is also an IndexedFaceSet node that holds the polygons with that surface, described as a number for each point in the polygon, which refers to an entry in the main list of point coordinates. There may also be an IndexedLineSet node or a PointSetnode containing any twopoint and one-point polygons. If the original LightWave object had a color texture map image, there will be an image le name and a set of texture coordinates. Texture coordinates, also known as UV coordinates, are 2D pixel positions in an image. They describe how the image lies on the 3D surface by pinning certain pixels to each polygons vertices. These values can be calculated from LightWaves mapping and texture size settings. In the case of planar UV mapping, U and V are simply x and y, (for Z-axis planar). Spherical UV mapping yields U and V coordinates somewhat analogous to longitude and latitude, with the Us all bunching up at the poles. Cylindrical mapping uses Us from the spherical case, then the Vs are the coordinate lying along the texture axis. If the LightWave texturing is using UV mapping already, then these coordinates are used, since VRML texture coordinates are dened in a per-polygon fashion (i.e. discontinuous UVs). The entire object may be embedded in a VRML Anchor, which makes it an active link on the Web. If you supply a URL for the object when you create it, then anytime that object appears in a scene, it will act as a clickable link to some other page. This should be used sparingly, as it can be quite annoying to keep jumping around the web when youre just inspecting an object. The uses for URLs in your objects can range from booby traps or ads for your favorite Web site, to inventory data for some widget. A nice example is a VRML origami site, where each step in the folding of a paper menagerie has a simple model with a link to the next stage. This is similar

Chapter15: Scene Management to the VRML level-of-detail mode, where multiple models are grouped together and the viewers distance determines which model, if any, is actually rendered. tem Tag Name/Usage Description URL URL=<url> (URL=http://etc. Item URL, overrides object and childrens URLs.

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Performance Notes
Although the VRML format is capable of describing complex scenes, current 3D browsers are limited by the real-time rendering capabilities of their underlying computers. Thus, exquisitely crafted models with painstaking detail, suitable for those print-res close-ups, may fail painfully when they enter the realm of VRML renderers. To avoid the twin perils of long download times and slow rendering, remember: the rst key to VRML success is efcient, low-polygon count Modeling. Similarly, elaborate layers of diffuse, specular, and luminosity textures, whether images or algorithmic, will not survive any conversion to VRML. Dont even ask about bump maps, displacement maps, or surface shaders. Love it or leave it, VRML supports a single image map for a color texture, as well as diffuse, color, specular, and transparency values. Since that texture image may very well have to y through a modem, youll probably want to keep it small. Elaborate textures and lighting can be baked into a models image map however, and lighting effects and coloring can also be baked into vertex color maps. PointSetobjects are stored most efciently if there is only one surface per object. Otherwise, duplicate references to the vertices are required. For large scenes, this could be signicant.

SOUND SOUND=<url> [<volume> <loop?>] Sounds can be added to objects. Currently these are triggered with any animation. TOUCH TOUCH= Trigger when mouse is over object (mouse grope). PROXIMITY PROXIMITY=W H D Trigger if viewer enters active region (WxHxD). VISIBILITY VISIBILITY= Trigger when viewer sees object. INCLUDE INCLUDE=<lename> Dump contents of le directly into output. IGNORE IGNORE= Skip this object and its children. TRIGGER TRIGGER=<object> Other object for sensor. VRML VRML=nodeName{ node elds} Node creator, dump node from comment into le. LABEL LABEL=<text> Create text node. MORPH MORPH= <start> <end> <step> <loop?> Morph animation capture. Creates external MorphObject. LOD LOD=<objectlename> [<range>] Level of Detail node. Use multiple tags in order of decreasing complexity (increasing range). Camera Tag Name/Usage Description (stored in rst camera in scene)

Scene Tags
Many of the VRML attributes set in the exporter UI are stored in the Lightwave scene le as comments. These comments can be viewed and edited on an item-by-item basis with the Comments (Layout Generic) plugin. These Comments should be formatted as <Tag>=<value> where the Tag is one of the following:

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LightWave 9 - Layout

NAVIGATE NAVIGATE=<type> [<speed>] NavigationInfo Type is one of NONE, WALK, EXAMINE, FLY, or ANY. Browsers may restrict user navigation with this. ENVIRONMENT ENVIRONMENT=<basename> Override scene background image with URLs for front, back, left, right, and top images named like basename__front.jpg, etc. HEADLIGHT HEADLIGHT= NavigationInfo Headlight on, if present.

Shockwave 3D
The Shockwave3D Exporter (File> Export> Shockwave3D) allows you to export Layouts current scene as a Macromedia Shockwave le (.w3d). This encapsulated le contains all of the information needed to recreate objects, surfaces, and animation, as well as the image les used in the scene. The exported le can then be integrated into Macromedia Director as a Cast Member. With this exporter, you can combine the content creation toolset of LightWave with the interactive functionality of Macromedia Director, creating an integrated solution for distributing multimedia content. NOTE: Although the exported le can be previewed in LightWave, you must have Macromedia Director in order to create les for distribution. More information on Shockwave and Director can be found at Macromedias website: http://www.macromedia.com/software/director/ Also, be sure to check out NewTeks Shockwave3D discussion in the NewTek discussion forum at http://vbulletin.newtek.com/forumdisplay.php?f=29

The top portion of the panel contains controls for the export selections, quality controls and preview options for the exported le. The options for these items can be found on the tabs located on the lower portion of the panel labelled Objects, Animation, Textures, and Cameras. The le location is determined when the OK button is pressed and the le dialog appears. Some things should be considered when Modeling and animating a scene that will be exported with Shockwave3D. Because this media is meant for distributing large multimedia les, many of the exporters features and options keep performance issues in mind. Please take a moment to read through this section and familiarise yourself on how LightWave and Shockwave3D are compatible with each other. It could save you a considerable amount of time on your next Shockwave3D project.

Export Selection
This list of items determines which portion of the scene will be exported into the .w3d le. The Scene Structure option

Chapter15: Scene Management preserves the parenting hierarchy of your scene, while Cameras, Lights, Surfaces, Objects, Animations, and Texture Maps all control which elements of the scene will actually be exported. Simply activating these checkboxes will include these items in the le.

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open displaying the exported le. This representation of the exported scene is how it will appear as a Cast Member in Macromedia Director.

Objects
The Shockwave3D Exporter exports polygonal models and frozen SubPatch objects from the scene into a .w3d le. To increase performance, Shockwave3D also creates multiple Level Of Detail (LoD) objects. These features are automatically enabled and their parameters can be controlled in Macromedia Director. Unfortunately, object morphing is not supported in Shockwave3D.

Quality Controls
For three of the item export parameters, Objects, Animations, and Texture Maps, there are additional controls to adjust the quality of the assets used in the .w3d le. Since the .w3d le is encapsulated, these adjustments will have no effect on the items or settings within your LightWave scene. Only the data within the exported le will be affected. If you are concerned about download times, or performance issues, modify these parameters to create smaller or faster playing les. By activating the Enable Toons and SDS (cel shading and subdivision surfaces) feature, the objects are exported with the neighboring mesh information needed by these features in Director. Since this option increases the size of the exported le, deactivate Enable Toons and SDS if these features wont be utilised in Director. (Note that the SDS modier must be added in Lingo.) The Crease Angle determines how much of an angle is allowed between neighbouring normals before polygons are joined together. This parameter is used as a geometric smoothing angle when objects are being optimised. Normal Deviation sets a limit that normals can deviate from when the exporter creates any LoDs. The smaller the number, the less likely the reduced models normals will be drastically different than the original object. The Shockwave3D Exporter will remove very small triangles from your models and does not support 1 or 2 point polygons. Base vertices are points that will be removed last during any compression or polygon reduction during the export. To use the base vertices feature, create a Point

Preview Options
On the Microsoft Windows platform, the Shockwave3D Exporter has the option of playing a Shockwave-enabled preview window. You can simply choose the resolution of the preview window, and on export, a separate window will

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LightWave 9 - Layout The smaller the Interval is, the more samples the exporter will create. In order to store this information, a larger le is created and will take longer to download and store in memory. Having the sample Interval set as high as possible will reduce the overhead needed to play the animation. However, having an incredibly high value wont solve all your problems either. The Shockwave3D Exporter will rotate an item based on the fastest route from angle A to angle B. Obviously this is not how LightWave works. For this reason, it may be necessary to export a scene using a much smaller sample Interval. This will give the Shockwave player more keyframes to rotate an item with and will match the LightWave scene more accurately.

Selection Set in Modeler named base verts. Any points included within this set will be given priority when the exporter does any of its optimisation functions, and will be reduced last.

Animating Objects
All items (lights, cameras, objects, and surfaces) should have unique names. Also, only two of LightWaves scene items are capable of being animated with Shockwave3D, objects and bones. Thus, you cannot directly animate cameras or lights. However, you can animate a null object and parent the camera or light to the null object and achieve the same effect. Hierarchy controls exported from LightWave include both item parenting and pivot point manipulation.

Animating Bones
Animating bones is one of the more advanced features of the Shockwave3D Exporter. However, one thing to keep in mind is that Shockwave uses a different bones system than LightWave. The major difference between the two systems is how points get bone inuences assigned to them. The animator should make all inuence adjustments in weight maps as opposed to LightWaves bone setup options. For this reason, all bones must have a weight map assigned to them. Any point not assigned to a weight map is assigned to a null bone located at the root of the hierarchy. Also, unlike LightWave, a Bones rest position is determined on frame 0.

You can select the range of the animation to be exported by dening the Start and End elds located on the Animation tab. By default, these initial values will match the start time and end time of the current scene. These options are not available if Force Sampling is not activated. In LightWave, animation is created using keyframes. The exporter takes the motion dened by these keyframes and all the motions modiers from a single frame and creates what is called a Sample. This is much like freezing the motion curves of an item, but for that single frame. These samples are then used in Shockwave as the keyframes of the animation. By adjusting the sample Interval, you control how often the exporter samples the animation. For example, a value of ve will export a sample every fth frame. This is very similar to LightWaves Frame Step parameter.

Surfacing and Texturing

Surfacing is converted from LightWave to Shockwave as closely as possible. This includes Color, Luminosity, Diffuse, Specularity, Glossiness, Reection and Transparency. However, because the rendering methods (rendering vs. OpenGL) used in these two applications are setup differently, some tweaking may be needed to these settings in order to get the desired effect. All surface mapping is converted to UV mapping when exported. However, Shockwave does not support the use of layered textures. Therefore, any surface channels that

Chapter15: Scene Management use layered textures must be attened and turned into a single texture by using LightWaves surface baker. Texture mapping in the diffuse, glossiness, reection, or specularity channels also works a little differently than LightWave. Any maps used in these channels are projected environmentally in Shockwave3D, thus ignoring any user-dened mapping. Double-sided surfaces are not supported in Shockwave and must be created using actual double-sided geometry.

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The Fog pop-up menu lets you choose which camera will have the fog settings attached to them. Fog settings exported include, Fog Type, Fog Color, and Fog Falloff. The Backdrop drop-down menu lets you determine which camera will have the scenes backdrop color setting attached to them. NOTE: Take note of the aforementioned animation limitation when animating Cameras.

Lighting
Shockwave3D supports many of LightWaves internal light types, Distant, Spot, and Point, as well as ambient light. The lighting parameters supported by Shockwave3D include Light Color, Light Intensity, and Spot Angle. NOTE: Take note of the aforementioned animation limitation when animating lights.

By overriding the texture size, you can force the Shockwave3D Exporter to globally reduce the image size of the textures in the .w3d le. For example, if you had 512 x 512 images, you could reduce them down to 64 x 64 by simply selecting Override Size and choosing 64. Disable Alphas simply disables the alpha channels on all the images.

Cameras

Image List
This command will save a text le that contains a list of every image used in a scene and its location. Example: Lightwave Image List 6769194: LW_Box_Front.tga E:\images\Endo_Sliders\LW_ Box_Front.tga

The Camera pop-up menu lets you decide which camera should be exported. If All cameras is selected, the camera data for all the cameras will be embedded within the exported le. Switching between cameras is handled within Macromedia Director.

6769195: LW_Box_Back.tga E:\images\Endo_Sliders\LW_ Box_Back.tga 6769196: LW_Box_SideL.tga E:\images\Endo_Sliders\LW_ Box_SideL.tga 6769197: LW_Box_SideR.tga E:\images\Endo_Sliders\LW_ Box_SideR.tga

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LightWave 9 - Layout Content Manager interface

Content Manager
Content Manager lets you collect a scene and its support les (i.e., object and images) and copy them to another location. It also has an option to just pull support les into the Content Directory (for those rare occasions, right?).

Export Scene Mode

When the Mode pop-up menu is set to Export Scene, Content Manager will copy the scene and support les to the New Content Dir. You may edit the scene name in the Scene Name eld if you want to change the name. You may reload the exported scene when the processing is nished by activating the Load Exported Scene option. Otherwise, the current scene will remain untouched. Export Scene mode

The Source column shows the location of the objects and images. If the les are local, only the path relative to the content directory (e.g., OBJECT\JOEY.LWO) is shown. If the les are external, the full path (e.g., C:\PICS\DC\ PACEY.JPG) is shown. The Destination column shows where those les will be copied. The destination and source are the same for local les. The destination will be blank for external les and needs to be specied by you. If desired, you can change the destination of local les.

When you close the initial Options panel, the main interface will appear. The list window will show all of the objects and images in your scene. The Status column will show Local (the exported le will be within the content directory) or External (the exported le will be outside the content directory).

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Consolidate Only Mode

Organizing Your Items: List Manager

Located directly to the right of Current Item pulldown menu, The List Manger allows for quick and easy management of the items in your scene.

The Consolidate Only mode moves les in the current scene into the current content directory. If you activate the Allow Overwrite option, Content Manager will automatically save the scene and objects. Consolidate Only mode To change the destination: 1 Select the le(s) with your mouse. (Note: The Externals button will select all external les.) 2 Click the Set Path button. 3 Enter the path in the dialog or use the pop-up menu to select standard directory names. 4 The destination will be local and show a relative path. Click the OK button to execute Content Manager based on your settings.

If you have a scene with a large number of items, you can use List Manager to organize your objects, cameras, lights, and bones into selection sets.

Quit
(default keyboard shortcut Shift Q ) Brings up a conrmation notice before the program actually quits in all cases, even if your scene and objects have just been saved. The default setting for List Manager will list all of the items of the Item Selection mode you have selected. If you are looking for a particular item in a long string of items, you can use Find. The search is case-sensitive, so keep that in mind if an item is not showing up. After you type the name in, press enter and the rst matching item will be selected. Pressing enter again will choose the next available item.

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LightWave 9 - Layout

Selection Menu
The Selection menu allows for the creation of selection sets for a group of objects. For example, you may have a group of bones where you want to change all of the setting of all the bones on the right side with the same settings. You create selection set by rst highlighting a group of items. You can select multiple items by holding down Shift or CTRL. Next, select Create Set in the Selection menu and give it a name When you open the Selection menu again, you will see the named selection group .

Filter Menu
The Filter menu works like the Selection menu, except it takes the process further and will hide all other items not in the set.

You can delete a lter set by choosing Remove Sets. If you would like to see all items after choosing a lter set, select Show All in the lter menu.

Actions Menu
The Actions menu allows you to manage the list order and rename your items. You can change the list order in ascending or descending order by Name, ID, or Selection, if you have created Selection groups. Hint: If you want to manually change the order of items, simply left click on the item, or group of items, and move it up or down in the list. This will automatically update the list in List Manager and in the Current Item menu.

You can delete a selection set by choosing Remove Sets. Note: If you have both the Bones and Objects List Manager panels open, when you select an object in the Object List Manager panel the corresponding set of bones for that object will show up in the Bones List Manager panel.

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Items Tab
Load Scene
(default keyboard shortcut Ctrl O )

HINT: Build a collection of nice Lighting setups and quickly add them to your scene using Load From Scene.

Scene To load an existing scene:

Step 1: Make sure the Content Directory is set properly. (Edit> General Options) Step 2: Choose Item > Load Scene and use the le dialog to navigate to the desired scene le. When the scene is loading, a progress dialog will appear. You may abort the load operation by clicking the Abort button; however, this may result in a partially loaded scene. NOTE: You can also Load a Scene le by choosing File > Load > Load Scene.

NOTE: You can also Load Items From a Scene by choosing File > Load > Load From Scene.

Object (default keyboard shortcut +)

When you set up a new scene, you will need to load the appropriate objects into the scene. Use Load Object (Items> Load Object) to add objects to your scene.

To load an object le into a scene:

Step 1: Make sure your Content Directory is properly set. This will help with any images that are referenced in the object le. (Edit> General Options) Step 2: Select Items > Load Object and use the le dialog to navigate to the desired object le. (Note: multiple objects may be loaded when more than one is selected in the le dialog.) NOTE: You can also Load an Object into Layout by choosing File > Load > Load Object. If the object contains multiple layers of geometry, each layer will be loaded as a separate editable item in Layout. An object is initially loaded so that its local Origin is at the global Origin and its local axes line up with the world axes.

From Scene
Using Load From Scene (Items> Load From Scene) gives you the ability to load an existing scene into your current scene. You are given the option of loading the lights from a saved scene as well as objects.

This can be extremely useful when working with complex scenes that have many items. Having the ability to set up a character in one scene and load the entire setup into a different scene is just one example of how useful Load From Scene can be.

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LightWave 9 - Layout

Object Layer
Choose Items > Load Object Layer to load a specic layer from a multi-layer object. A dialog will appear allowing you to dene which layer to load.

NOTE: You can also load an objects layers by choosing File> Load> Load Object Layer.

Example of a character using Null objects for Inverse Kinematics and Proxy Items.

Add
Null (default keyboard shortcut
The Null Object Null objects are special objects that can be used for many different purposes in LightWave Nulls can act as a target or parent item for lights or cameras, or perhaps a handle to help in manipulating a group of objects. They are often used with object/bone hierarchies to group major components and with Inverse Kinematics to act as goals for items to reach for.
CTRL N )

Null objects appear in the Layout window as six-pointed stars or jacks; however, they never render in an image. Null objects, like the camera and lights, will appear to grow or shrink in relation to objects as the grid size is changed. They can be moved, rotated, scaled, and so on, just like any regular object.

NOTE: You can change the appearance of a Null object by applying Item Shape in the Add Custom Object list, within the Object Properties panel.

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Null Objects with Item Shape Applied

To add a null object: Step 1: Select Items > Add Null. Step 2: Enter the name you wish to use for the null object in the dialog that appears or accept the default name of Null. Step 3: If you would like to change the properties of the null click on Edit and the menu will expand.

NOTE: When there are multiple items of the same type with the same name, a numerical sufx is added automatically (e.g., Null (1), Null (2), etc.).

Shape: Determines the shape of the null. Standard is the default Star null. Axis: Determines the direction the null faces towards the positive axis. Filled: If this option is available and you select it, the item shape will be a solid color. Label: You can enter text which will be displayed in the viewports.

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LightWave 9 - Layout hts. Click OK to accept the default or type in the name you wish to use and click OK.

Justication: If you enter text in the Label section, you can specify where on the null where to display that text. Draw Line To: Will draw a line from the null to the selected item. Selected Color: When the null is selected, this will be the color of the null. Unselected Color: When the null is not selected, this will be the color of the null. Text Color: If you have entered text, this will be the color of the text. Opacity: Determines the opacity of the null.

NOTE: For more information on Lights and Light Types see Chapter 17 - Light Properties, starting on page 536.

Camera
You can add additional cameras by choosing Items > Add: Camera; however, only the Current Camera is used to render a scene. If you have more than one camera in the scene, use the Current Camera pop-up menu on the Camera Properties Panel (or Layouts Current Item popup menu) to select the currently active camera. A dialog prompts you for a name when you add a Camera. Click OK to accept the default or type in the name you wish to use and click OK.

Null objects are created by LightWave on a sceneby-scene basis and are not real objects that can be saved to disk. They remain part of the scene le, however, and will reload with the scene. Lights
Choose Items > Add: Lights and select the desired light type from the submenu. This is where you would convert Luxigons as well. A dialog prompts you for a name when you add lig

NOTE: For more information on Cameras see Chapter 16 - Camera Basics, starting on page 520.

Dynamic Object
One way to quickly add dynamic objects to your scene is to use the Add Dynamic Object drop down list (Items > Add Dynamic Obj). Choose between Collision, Wind, Gravity,

Chapter15: Scene Management and Particle from the drop down menu. You can add one or more of these controllers to your scene. Then, each can be set with its own Parameter settings to create just the effect you are looking for. A dialog prompts you for a name when you add a dynamic object. Click OK to accept the default or type in the name you wish to use and click OK. Collision The Collision controller lets you add an element for the particles and/or dynamic objects to bump into. Wind The Wind controller lets you add wind to blow your particles and/or dynamic objects around. Gravity Add a Gravity controller to add gravity-like effects to your particles and/or dynamic objects motions. Particle The Particle Emitter controller is the controller and the source for particles. There are two emitter selections: HVEmitter and PolygonEmitter. NOTE: For more information on Collision, Wind, Gravity, and Particles see the Dynamics Tab section in Chapter 16 Object Properties, starting on page 469.

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NOTE: For more information about Powergons see the Add Powergons section in Chapter 33 - Setup Tab.

Clone

(default keyboard shortcut Ctrl C )

If you want to duplicate an item that is already in your scene, you can just choose Items > Add: Clone. The new item will inherit all of the source items properties and motion. As such, this can be a real time saver.

Steps to cloning an item:

Step 1: Select the item you would like to clone.

Convert Powergons
Powergons allow you to execute a short Layout command script, which is attached to selected polygons in Modeler. You can use this feature to quickly add, say, lights using polygons for positioning. Moreover, all of the lights properties can be dened as well. Step 2: Choose Clone (Items> Clone) and input the number of clones you would like to create. Click OK.

Executing the Commands

Powergon commands that are attached in Modeler can be loaded into Layout. Then choose Items > Add: CVT Powergons. This executes any command scripts attached to the selected object. Step 3: You should now have clones of your original object.

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LightWave 9 - Layout If you want to duplicate an item or group of items that are already in your scene, you can choose Items > Add: Mirror. This tool works in a very similar way to clone with one difference. Instead of duplicating the selected item(s) on top of themselves, Mirror gives you the option to mirror the selected items along the X, Y, or Z axis.

Steps for using Mirror in Layout:

Step 1: Select the item or items you would like to duplicate.

NOTE: The newly created Clone(s) will be located at the exact coordinates as the original so you will need to move them.

Clone Hierarchy
If you want to duplicate an item and all of its children in a hierarchy that is already in your scene, you can just choose Items > Add: Clone Hierarchy. The new items will inherit all of the source items properties and motion. As such, this can be a real time saver. Step 2: Choose Mirror (Items> Mirror) and a dialog box will appear. Choose the Axis to Mirror on.

Step 3: Click OK.

NOTE: The newly created Clone(s) will be located at the exact coordinates as the originals so you will need to move them.

Mirror (default keyboard shortcut

Shift V )

Chapter15: Scene Management NOTE: Your original items will remain selected.

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Clear Selected (default keyboard shortcut -)

Clear Selected (Items> Delete: Clear Selected) will remove the selected item or items from a scene.

Replace
Rename
You can rename the current item, like cameras, bones, and lights, but not objects, using Items > Replace: Rename.

Clear
You can use commands on the Items > Delete: Clear menu to remove selected items or all of the items of a specied type from a scene.

Clear Drop Down:

Clear All Objects Will remove all objects from the scene. Clear All Bones Will remove all bones from the selected object. Clear All Lights Will remove all but one of the Lights in the scene. Clear All Cameras Will remove all but one of the Cameras in the scene.

Replace
The commands found in the Items > Replace: Replace drop down menu let you replace the current object with another object, a layer from another object or a null object. You might use this feature to animate a very complex object by inserting a stand-in object with a low-polygon count and then replacing it when it is time to render.

Replacing a Multi-layer Object

When replacing a multi-layer object, select the rst layer before replacing. The rst layer will be replaced with the rst layer from the new object le. Subsequent layers belonging to the same original object will be replaced if their layer numbers match those found in the new object le. You can also use Items > Replace > Replace > With Layer to replace an object with a single layer from a multilayered object. A dialog will appear to let you specify the layer.

Delete

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LightWave 9 - Layout

Graph Editor
When you create keyframes for items, you specify a set of keys for the items animation channels (generally position, rotation, and scale, but also light intensity, etc.). The Graph Editor provides both a more global and more detailed way to alter the settings that govern an items animation channels. You have all of Layouts keyframe editing capabilities, plus some others like dragging keyframes to different frames, or graphically adjusting keyframe attributes. Use it to visually ne-tune or dramatically change an items animation characteristics. NOTE: The Graph Editor also controls all envelopes for options like light intensity, color, camera zoom, etc. Each Animation Channel is displayed on a twodimensional graph. Time is constant along the bottom and the Channel value or setting is equal to the vertical position. Because time is constant, you can visually judge things like where an item slows down or speeds up based on the slope of the curve. The Graph Editor is a great way to identify and x those annoying hiccups, which can occur from time to time, in what should be a smooth animation. The Graph Editor has four major interface areas: the Channel (Curve) bin, the Curve Edit Window, the Curve/ Expressions controls, and the Scene/Expressions list.

Chapter15: Scene Management You can click the Collapse buttons to hide the left side and bottom areas of the panel. This will increase the screen real estate used by the Curve Edit window. When the left side is collapsed, the primary selected curve is shown in the information eld.

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Collapse buttons
Collapse Tabs and Trees Active

Frame Range
If frames outside the range of frames in your scene (i.e., less than your rst frame or greater than your last frame) are visible in the Curve Edit Window, those areas will be slightly darkened. There will also be a small handle at the very bottom of each border. You can drag these to interactively adjust your scenes rst and last frame.

Collapse Trees Active

First and Last Frame Handles and Corresponding Fields on the Main Layout Interface

The Time Slider

You can grab the time slider in the Curve Edit Window by its base and drag to change Layouts current frame. The current frame is displayed below the slider handle.
Collapse Tabs Active

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LightWave 9 - Layout

Clicking at the bottom of the graph where the frame slider handle would be moves the frame slider to that frame.

Panel Layout Adjustments

You can drag the border between the Scene list and Channel Bin, and between the Channel Bin and Curve Edit Window to change the spacing between the two sides (if the Graph Editor is not at its minimum overall size).

Once you add channels to the bin, you can rearrange the order by dragging and dropping.

Using the Channel Bin

When you rst open the Graph Editor, the appropriate curves for the currently selected item are displayed in the Channel Bin. The Channel Bin is merely a repository to show you which curves are available for display and edit. Deleting curves from this window will not affect your scene. This system makes it very simple to edit multiple curves from several different items.

The Channels Pop-up

The Channels pop-up menu, above the Channel Bin, has a few functions. You may select Filter to lter out channels from the Channel Bin that do not match a pattern. The pattern is case sensitive. *.Position.* would remove any channel that wasnt a Position channel. You could use *.Y to show only Y channels.

To replace/add channels to the Channel Bin:

Step 1: Locate the desired item in the Scene list. Step 2: Double-click on an individual channel or an item name (for all its channels). These will replace any existing channels in the bin. To add the channels to the Channel Bin hold the Shift key as you click or drag it into the bin. If you use the drag method, you can drag multiple channels/items into the bin by selecting multiple items in the Scene list (Shift key for range and Ctrl for non-contiguous selection).

Chapter15: Scene Management Choose Create Favorite Set to manage curve sets. It lets you create sets of editable curves so that you can easily switch between different combinations of curves to manipulate during a session.

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This is also a good way to lock areas of curves together. By selecting multiple curves when you create keys the curves can be identical at those segments of the animation. If you put your cursor over a key you will see a data label pop up to inform you of that points Curve, Value, and Frame.

To create a favorites entry:

Step 1: Make sure the desired curves appear in the Channel Bin. Step 2: Select Create Set from the Channels pop-up menu. Step 3: Enter an appropriate Name in the input eld that appears and click OK. You can revert to any saved favorite set of curves by selecting it from the bottom of the Channels pop-up menu. Choosing Replace favorite set lets you replace an existing favorite set with the curves currently in the bin. Choosing Delete favorite set lets you remove an existing favorite set from the Channels pop-up menu.

A Keys Data Label

Edit Mode Selection

You can select from the edit modes by clicking one of the buttons beneath the Curve Edit window. From left to right, the mode buttons are Move, Add, Stretch, Roll, and Zoom. Pressing your Spacebar cycles you through the modes. The information display, just to the right of the buttons, will display the name of the selected mode button, the shortcut key, and mouse operation information.

Editing Curves
With the Graph Editor, you can easily edit multiple curves simultaneously or use curves from different items as references. Since you can mix curves of different types in the bin, you can do interesting things like compare the curve of light intensity with the X position of an object any curve in LightWave can be compared or edited together!

To select curves for editing:

Click on the channels in the Channel Bin to select their curves for editing. (Hold the Shift key for range and Ctrl for non-contiguous selection.) Selected curves will become highlighted, but unselected curves will still be visible as a reference. You can also Alt+RMB on a curve in the Curve Edit window to make it the (only) selected curve. Use Alt+Shift+RMB to add the curve to the current curve selection.

You can interactively cut and paste key frames from one curve to another as well as simply replace an entire curve.

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LightWave 9 - Layout

Your keyboard up and down arrow keys will cycle the selected key through the curves in the curve bin. Hold the Shift key as you press the cursor keys to increase or decrease the curves selected. When multiple curves are selected, one will be the primary selected curve and its selection color will be a little brighter. Some commands, like Fit Values by Type, use the primary selected curve when more than one is selected.

To change key value/time:

Step 1: Select the key(s) and click the Move Mode button.

Step 2: Drag with your LMB to change the value. Hold the Ctrl key to change time.

To select/unselect keys for editing:

In the Move mode, select keys by clicking on them with your LMB. In any mode, except Roll, you can drag out a bounding box with your RMB. This will toggle the state of the bounded group of keys. To add to or subtract from a selection, hold the Shift key. To unselect all selected keys, just click in the graph border. To select all, Shift+doubleclick. If only a single key is selected, you can use your keyboard left and right arrowkeys to cycle the selection of keys along curves.

To scale selected keys:

Step 1: Select the key(s) and click the Stretch Mode button.

Step 2: Place your mouse pointer at the position you want to use as the center of the scaling. Step 3: Drag using your LMB to scale value. Hold the Ctrl key to scale time.

To roll a range of keys:

Step 1: Select the Roll mode.

To add keys to curves:

Step 1: Select the channel curve(s). Step 2: Click the Add Mode button.

Step 2: Drag out the time range using your RMB. Step 3: Drag your LMB to roll the keysas keys go past the end of the range, they reappear at the other end of the range.

Step 3: Click on the graph at the desired frame (horizontal) and value (vertical) position. Before you release the mouse button, you can drag up and down to adjust the value. Hold the Ctrl key to adjust the frame.

To Zoom in and Out of the Graph Workspace:

Step 1: Select the Zoom tool

To delete keys from curves:

Step 1: Select the channel curve(s) and then the key(s). Step 2: Press the Delete key. In the Add mode, you can delete keys with Ctrl + LMB.

Chapter15: Scene Management Step 2: Drag your Left Mouse button and drag a bounding box in the area you want to magnify. Time Slice), discussed later.

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Weight Curve
Motions can now be assigned a Weight Curve which allow you to specify the inuence a Motion has over time. These curves have the added benet of allowing you to weight to any keyframed animation underlying the Motion in Layout. The weighting system works on a value of 1.0 indicating full inuence and a weight value of 0.0 indicating no inuence on the nal animation. The difference with MotionMixers weights is that as the weight approaches 0.0, and if theres underlying animation in Layout, then more of that underlying animation will be mixed into the nal value: Step 3: Right Click to Zoom out. Weight Value 1.0, 0.75, 0.5, 0.25, 0.0, Motion Inuence 100%, 75%, 50%, 25%, 0%, Layout Inuence 0% 25% 50% 75% 100%

Copying Keys
You may copy keys using your mouse or keyboard.

To copy selected keys with a mouse:

Step 1: Select the keys for editing. Any mode except Roll can be used. Drag using Ctrl+RMB. Step 2a: When you copy a single curve, an insertion point marker (and paste time display) will appear as your pointer moves over the curve. Release the mouse button to insert. Move your pointer off the curve to abort the paste. Step 2b: When you copy multiple curves, color-coded insertion marks will appear. With your mouse pointer not directly over a curve, release to paste. Selected keys may be on different curves, but they can be copied only onto the same curve. NOTE: Existing keys will be shifted over if you paste in more than one key (unless the Insert Overwrites Keys option is enabled). See also the Copy Time Slice command (Keys > Copy

If a Motion has no Weight Curve attached then its treated as if it has a weight of 1.0. Weights can also be increased above 1.0. This is very useful for overlaying other Motions, the higher the weight value you apply the more inuence that Motion will have over any others at that time (i.e., if you give a Motion a weight of 10.0, it will have ten times more inuence over another Motion with a value of 1.0). When a Weight Curve has been applied, a small green bar is drawn under the Motion on the Timeline. Weight Curves can be added, disabled temporarily and opened in the Graph Editor either through the Motion Properties Panel or directly from the Timelines context menus (see below).

Curve Translation
Curves for Transitions, TimeWarps & Weights are now moved and scaled to match their positions on the Timeline. This makes working with the curves far more intuitive; the frame indicator in the Graph Editor now shows the position

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LightWave 9 - Layout rotate that Motion so that it continues in the direction that the last Motion ended on. The Adjust Alignment control can be used to modify the calculated rotation value allowing you to ne tune the direction your character travels. The Compensate for Start Angle checkbox allows you to compensate for a Motion that doesnt travel along the positive Z axis. This is very handy for motion capture where motions are often not axis aligned (i.e., in situations where the performer runs diagonally to make the best use of the capture area, or probably more commonly, where people dont create their forward motion along the positive Z axis). To use the Character offset type set any items that control the characters movement (e.g., pelvis bone, IK Goals etc.) to CHAR in the Offset Editor (Custom Offset type).

on the curve at the current time.

Motion Instancing
Motion Instancing is now implemented. Any number of instances of a Motion can be placed on a Track and each can have their own independent attributes (i.e., Item/ Channel states, in/out points etc.) To create an instance of a Motion, select the source Motion from the Motion Menu (this can also be a previously created instance) and click Add Motion. Freeing the source Motion also removes all instances.

TimeWarp Curves
These can be attached to any Motion (or instance) and allow you to vary the timing of the animation, you can speed up or slow down sections, go backwards or freeze time and continue. A small red bar is drawn under the Motion to signify that a TimeWarp curve is attached. These can also be temporarily disabled. Controls to add/remove/disable TimeWarp curves are in the Motion Properties Panel and on the context menus.

Graph Editor: Adjusting the Curve Edit Window

Like other LightWave viewports, you can pan around the graph by holding the Alt key as you drag around the Curve Edit Window. Alternatively, you can use the drag-window drag button in the upper-right corner. You can change the zoom by holding Ctrl+Alt while you drag or by dragging on the zoom-window drag button in the upper-right corner.

Relative XZ Custom Offset Type

This is a hybrid of the normal Relative Offset and the Absolute Offset types. All channels are evaluated as relative offsets apart from the Y axis. This allows motions to be blended relatively but retain their Y heights (i.e., you dont end up with a follow-on Motion underground or oating above it).

Character Custom Offset Type

As the name implies this offset type is specially designed for characters and makes it very simple to align Motions automatically. Say you have a Motion where a character turns a corner and ends up facing 90 degrees, you append a Motion of a walk in a straight line. MotionMixer can now

Zooming and Panning

The Zoom Box tool button is the right-most Mode button. Click it and you can drag out a box on the graph and zoom in on that area.

Chapter15: Scene Management You can get a 2X zoom out by clicking your RMB with the Zoom Box tool selected. The zoom out will be centerd at the point you click. If you have a mouse wheel, scrolling it over the Curve Edit window will affect the zoom. Hold the Ctrl key to pan horizontally and use Ctrl+Alt to pan vertically.

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Remove Channel from Bin

(default keyboard shortcut Shift D )

This command will remove all selected curves from the Channel Bin.

Invert Channel Section (default keyboard shortcut I )

This command will invert the selection state of curves in the Channel Bin.

The Graph Editor Toolbar

The Toolbar contains a slew of commands for the Graph Editor. Many of these are also available on the various Curve Bin and Curve Edit Window pop-up menus, described later.

Select All Curves in Bin

(default keyboard shortcut Ctrl Up )

This command selects all of the curves in the Channel Bin.

Toolbar Selection Menu

The Selection menu contains commands that affect curves in the Curve Bin.

Reset Bin Selection (default keyboard shortcut

Ctrl Down)

This command leaves only the rst curve in the Channel Bin selected.

Filter Curves (default keyboard shortcut W ) Add Layout Selected (default keyboard shortcut L)
This command will add the channels for the currently selected item(s) in Layout to the Channel Bin. Use this command to lter out channels from the Channel Bin that do not match a pattern. The pattern is case sensitive. *.Position.* would remove any channel that wasnt a Position channel. You could use *.Y to show only Y channels.

Get Layout Selected (default keyboard shortcut

Shift G)

Filter Position Channels (default keyboard shortcut !)

Use this to lter out everything but Position channels from the Channel Bin.

This command will replace the contents of the Channel Bin with the channels for the currently selected item(s) in Layout.

Filter Rotation Channels (default keyboard shortcut @ )

Use this to lter out everything but Rotation channels from the Channel Bin.

Clear Unselected Channels (default keyboard shortcut X )

This command will remove any unselected curves from the Channel Bin.

Filter Scale Channels (default keyboard shortcut # )

Use this to lter out everything but Scale channels from the Channel Bin.

Clear Channel Bin

(default keyboard shortcut Shift X )

This command will empty the Channel Bin.

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Toolbar Keys Menu

The Keys menu contains commands that manipulate the selection, creation, deletion, frame setting, and value of keys.

Bake Selected Curves (default keyboard shortcut B)

This bakes the state of selected curves by creating keys at every frame. Curves do not necessarily need to be affected by a Modier, but their effects will be taken into account.

Copy Time Slice (default keyboard shortcut

Ctrl C )

Create Key (default keyboard shortcut Return)

This allows you to create a key, Layout-style. A dialog will appear where you can enter the Frame and Value.

You can copy values of selected curves at the current frame (even if there are no existing source keys) and paste them elsewhere. This command will copy the values. These values may be pasted at any frame with Paste Time Slice, but only onto the same curve(s).

Delete Selected Keys (default keyboard shortcut Delete)

This command will delete any selected keys.

Copy Footprint Time Slice

(default keyboard shortcut Ctrl X )

Lock Selected Keys (default keyboard shortcut

Shift L)

This works like Copy Time Slice, but uses the value(s) from the curves footprint instead of the actual curve. Use Paste Time Slice to paste.

This locks the selected keys so they are uneditable. Locked keys are grey.

Paste Time Slice (default keyboard shortcut

Ctrl V )

Unlock Selected Keys

Unlocks selected keys.

(default keyboard shortcut Shift K )

Pastes in values copied with Copy Time Slice or Copy Footprint Time Slice at the current frame. Keys will be created (or modied, if they already exist) at the new frame with the new values.

Invert Selected Keys (default keyboard shortcut

This ips the order of selected keys in time.

Shift I )

Match Footprint Time Slice

(default keyboard shortcut Ctrl B )

Snap Keys to Frames (default keyboard shortcut Q )

This command causes every selected key that falls on a fractional frame to snap to the nearest whole frame.

This creates a key on the curve that matches the footprint value at the current time. Essentially, it is the same as doing a Copy Footprint Time Slice operation and immediate paste.

Set Key Values (default keyboard shortcut =)

This command will bring up a dialog where you can enter a new Value for the selected keys.

Copy Selected Keys (default keyboard shortcut C)

This copies selected keys to a memory buffer. To paste the buffer, you must have your mouse pointer over a curve and use the Paste Keys command on the Curve Edit Window pop-up menu (Ctrl+Shift+LMB), discussed later.

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Add to Key Bin (default keyboard shortcut K)

This creates a named set of keys that you can insert into a curve later. To paste the set, you must have your mouse pointer over a curve and use the Insert From Bin item on the Curve Edit Window pop-up menu (Ctrl+Shift+LMB), discussed later.

The threshold is set by selecting Set Key Reduction Threshold. There are two modes: Reduce Keys and Reduce Keys ( Recursive), whose default keyboard shortcut is _. As an example, assume consecutive keys A B C D E all have values within the threshold. Choosing Reduce Keys would remove keys leaving A C E. Selecting Reduce Keys again would leave A E and a nal Reduce Keys would leave only A. Reduce Keys (Recursive) would go directly from A B C D E to A in one step. If you set the threshold to a negative number, Reduce Keys will eliminate every other key. Reduce Keys (Recursive) will remove all but the rst key.

Numeric Move (default keyboard shortcut

Shift T )

With this command you can shift the selected keys. Frame Offset is the number of frames to use for the shift. Value Offset is a number to add to or subtract from the value for each keyframe.

Numeric Scale (default keyboard shortcut

Shift H )

This command lets you scale the key times and values for selected keys. A Time Scale Factor of 1 means no change. A value of 2 would double the time and .5 would halve it. The Time Scale Origin is the center of the scaling. Thus, if you place this at one selected key, the scaling will happen around it and not affect that particular key. This setting uses the units displayed on the graph. Value Scale Factor and Value Scale Origin work similarly except they affect the selected key values.

Toolbar Footprints Menu

The Footprints feature lets you create an imprint of the current curve(s) to use as a reference and as a state you can revert back to.

Roll Keys Left (default keyboard shortcut [)

Shifts the values of the selected keys to the left without affecting their time. This command works only with contiguously selected keys.

Leave Footprint (default keyboard shortcut Shift F ). Creates the imprint that will be visible as a shade of the real curves color (once you make a change). Pickup Footprint (default keyboard shortcut Shift R ). Erases the footprint for the current curve(s). Backtrack Footprint (default keyboard shortcut Shift Will restore the curve to its footprinted state.
B).

Roll Keys Right (default keyboard shortcut ])

Shifts the values of the selected keys to the right without affecting their time. This command works only with contiguously selected keys.

Toolbar Autot Menu

This group of commands affect the range of frames and values shown in the Curve Edit Window.

Reduce Keys (default keyboard shortcut -)

The Reduce functions let you remove consecutive keys that are within a certain threshold value of one another.

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Autot (default keyboard shortcut A)

You can automatically scale the graph display to show all of the selected curves with this command.

Center Graph (default keyboard shortcut G)

Centers the graph on the current mouse position.

Autot Selected (default keyboard shortcut

Shift A)

Reset Graph (default keyboard shortcut / )

This simply resets the graph to default frame and value ranges.

You can automatically scale the graph display to show all of the selected keys with this command.

Edit Keyboard Shortcuts

(default keyboard shortcut Alt F9 )

Autot By Type

(default keyboard shortcut Ctrl A)

Autot By Type will scale the graph to t the values for the primary selected curves type (i.e. position, rotation, scale, and so on).

This command will bring up the standard Congure Keys Panel. However, it will list shortcuts for the Graph Editor. (Note that the Window pop-up menu will be set to Graph Editor.)

Fit Values By Type (default keyboard shortcut

Ctrl F )

This works like Autot By Type, but only scales the graph vertically, retaining the current frame range.

Toolbar Display Menu

The Display menu contains commands that affect the graph display, as well as global options.

Numeric Limits (default keyboard shortcut

Shift N )

Edit Menu Layout (default keyboard shortcut

Alt F10 )

This will display a small dialog. The Min Frame and Max Frame values set the range of frames you want to see on the graph. The Min Value determines the value of the bottom boundary of the graph and the Max Value sets the upper boundary.

The Graph Editor has its own set of menus. These can be customised using the normal Conguring Menus Panel. (Note that you are editing the Graph Editor menus when Graph Editor is selected in the Window pop-up menu on the Conguring Menus Panel.) Beneath the Main Menu group is the Graph Editor group. This is the group used for the Graph Editors toolbar. It can contain its own group for pull-down style menus. In the Popup Menu group are the commands that will appear when you press Ctrl+Shift+LMB over the Curve Edit window.

Go To Frame (default keyboard shortcut F )

This action sets the current frame to the entered value. It also centers the Curve Edit Window around that frame.

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Track Layout Time (default keyboard shortcut numpad 5 )

This option will scroll the Curve Edit window to keep the frame slider centerd. This is useful for watching the curves scroll by as Layout is playing.

Allow Passthrough Keys

(default keyboard shortcut numpad 6 )

This option lets you drag keys through each other in time. Normally, you stop at a neighbouring key.

Lock Motion Keys in Time Insert Overwrites Keys (default keyboard shortcut `)
Normally, when you paste in more than one key, existing keys may be shifted over. Enable this option to replace the paste range and not shift over keys.
(default keyboard shortcut numpad 7)

Filter Static Envelopes (default keyboard shortcut numpad 1)

This option will keep envelopes that have fewer than two keys from being displayed in the Channel Bin when selecting groups (both from the scene list, as well as from other Layout panels.)

This option causes keys to be created for all motion channels of the selected channel(s). Only Position, Rotation and Scale channels are affected. For example, Position.Y, Position.Z, Rotation.H, etc. would all be affected if Position. X was selected.)

Move No Keys Sel (default keyboard shortcut numpad 8 )

By default, if no keys are selected, no editing will occur when using tools like Move or Stretch. Activate this option to change this so that all keys are considered selected when none are selected (like in Modeler).

Large Autosize Margins

(default keyboard shortcut numpad 2 )

Track Item Selections (default keyboard shortcut numpad 9 )

This is a mode that will automatically bring the channels for the currently selected Layout item into the Graph Editor.

This option will add an extra amount of outside space when you use autot commands.

Allow Fractional Keyframes (default keyboard shortcut numpad 3 )

This option keeps frame adjustments to whole numbers. This is linked to Layouts Allow Fractional Current Frame setting (General Options Tab of the Preferences Panel).

Fit Values when Selected

(default keyboard shortcut numpad 0 )

Lazy Layout Update (default keyboard shortcut numpad 4 )

When active, the Graph Editor will not update in Layout until after you release the mouse button. This can allow smoother adjustments in complex situations. When inactive, Layout will update as you make adjustments.

When this option is active, your view will automatically t the values of the selected curve. This will not affect the visible range of frames, however.

Show Modiers
Activate this to always make the modied curve (i.e., after the effects of motion Modier plugins) visible as a dotted line.

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Show Tangents
This command will activate or deactivate tangent handle display.

Collapse/Show Tabs (default keyboard shortcut F6 )

This is the same as clicking the Collapse Tabs button.

Antialias Curves
This command will activate or deactivate the feature that smooths the display of curves. HINT: If you are working with a lot of curves and keys, turning off the Antialias Curves and Show Tangents options can help speed up display refreshing.

Collapse/Show Trees (default keyboard shortcut F7)

This is the same as clicking the Collapse Trees button.

Toolbar More Menu

Show Key Info

This turns the pop-up display of key information off or on. This appears when your mouse pointer is directly over a key.

Graph Editor Options (default keyboard shortcut O)

Most of the options on this panel can also be set from the Display menu and have been described previously. There are a few that can only be set here, however. On the General Tab, you can change the Default Incoming Curve. On the Display Tab, you can set the color used when the Custom Point Color option is active.

Hide Background Curves

Normally, non-selected curves in the Curve Bin are visible in the graph. This display option will toggle their visibility state.

Large Keyframe Points

Activate this option to increase the display size of keys.

Custom Point Color

This turns on the user-dened (unselected) point color. Selected points are always yellow.

Collapse/Show All (default keyboard shortcut F5 )

This collapses or shows the Tabs and Trees areas of the Graph Editor.

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Undo Last Action (default keyboard shortcut

Ctrl Z )

Replace Used to load a curve from a le. Save Saves a single curve to a le. Copy Copies the curve under your mouse pointer when you open the menu to the curve memory buffer. Paste Pastes the curve stored in the memory buffer. Your mouse pointer must be over the curve you wish to replace before you open the menu. Remove from Bin Removes the selected curve(s) from the Channel Bin. Footprints See discussion on Footprints on page 189. Show Velocity Adds a non-editable background curve representing the velocity of the selected curve. Velocity is dened as the time rate of change for a single curve including a vector. In other words, a velocity curve denes how much the value of the current single channel changed at that time. Show Speed Adds a non-editable background curve representing the speed of the current curve. Speed is dened as the magnitude of the velocity vector. This

Use this command for a single level undo/redo of the last edit. HINT: Also see the discussion on the Footprints feature, starting on page 189

Cancel Changes (default keyboard shortcut

Shift U )

This command restores all envelopes to their state at the time the Graph Editor Panel was last activated (i.e., making it the top window).

Channel Bin Pop-up Menu

The Channel Bin has a pop-up menu that appears when you right-click a curve:

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LightWave 9 - Layout Paste Keys Inserts the keys stored in a memory buffer with the Copy Selected Keys command existing keys may be moved over if the buffer has multiple keys. Your mousepointer must be over the pasting point on a curve before opening the menu (pointer will highlight). Add to Key Bin Creates named set of keys that you can insert into a curve later. Insert Works like Paste Keys, but gets data from a specied key set. Options Displays the Graph Editor Options Panel.

means the Speed curve represents the time rate of change of all three position, rotation, or scale curves. Append to Expression This command will place the selected channel in the expression eld. This is handy and will save you from having to type out channel names when creating expressions. Show Modied If the Show Modiers option (Display menu) is active and your curve is being modied, from a modier plugin for instance, this will let you see the actual modied motion curve.

Curve Edit Window Pop-up Menu

Another pop-up menu is available when you work in the Curve Edit Window. It appears when you Ctrl+Shift+LMB click over the graph. This gives you quick access to many commonly used commands.

Key Pop-up Menu

Another contextual pop-up is available when you work in the Curve Edit Window. It appears when you right-click directly over a key: key the operations affect that key only.

Key Locked Locks/unlocks the key so it is uneditable; locked keys are grey. Copy Key Value Copies the key value to memory buffer. Paste Key Value Pastes the value stored in memory to the key. Ease In/Out Sets the Incoming Curve for the key to TCB Spline and sets the Tension to 1. Incoming Curves Quickly change the Incoming Curve type for the key by selecting it from the list at the bottom of the menu. Most of the commands have been discussed; however, some only appear on this menu because they require your mouse pointer to be directly over a curve. Copy Selected Keys This copies selected keys to a memory buffer. NOTE: Other customisable menus will appear when you Ctrl+Shift+RMB and Ctrl+Shift+MMB.

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Graph Editor: Editing Color Channels

You can also animate color channels. If you add an envelope for, say, a surface color, you can edit the related RGB channels on the Graph Editor.

Clicking the Color Envelope Button

NOTE: You can adjust any color channel beyond the normal maximum and minimum creating a high dynamic range color. This may have no visible effect on the color bar, but could affect how the color is interpreted by other factors. You can use a color requester to set the key values by rightclicking on a key and selecting Open Color Picker. Note that the selected color will only set the color component for the selected channel(s). If other channels are selected, keys will be created as needed.

Graph Editor: Curves Tab

The Curves Tab in the Curve Controls area contains specic values for a selected key(s). The Frame eld contains the frame number and the Value eld holds the related value.
Color Envelope in the Graph Editor

When a color channel is selected in the Channel Bin, a color bar will appear at the bottom of the graph. The bar shows you the color for the combined red, green, and blue values at any particular point in timeeven if you dont have all three color components in the bin.

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Pre and Post Behaviours

The Pre Behaviour setting determines what happens before the rst keyframe. The Post Behaviour determines what happens after the last keyframe. The available settings are: With Reset, the motion value is reset to zero.

Multiple Values
If you select multiple keys, input elds will show (mixed) if the keys have different settings. You can still edit the elds, which will change all selected keys to match the entered value. You can use this method to atten a portion of a curve(s) or to match key times across multiple curves. With Constant, the values beyond the ends are constant, that is, equal to the rst or last keyframe value.

With Repeat, the motion repeats from the rst to last keyframe.

Chapter15: Scene Management With Oscillate, the motion is mirrored over and over.

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Incoming Curves
The type of curve that precedes a key can be set using the Incoming Curve pop-up menu.

TCB Spline
TCB Spline (tension, continuity, and bias) curves have three controls that determine the shape of a curve as it passes through a key. With Offset Repeat, the motion repeats, but it is offset by the difference between the rst and last keyframe values. Tension causes an object in motion to slow down, or move a little bit less in each frame, as it nears the keyframe, and to accelerate as it passes the keyframe (-1 = low tension, 0 = normal tension, 1 = high tension). Without Tension (i.e., value of 0), the object would pass through the keyframe position at a constant speed. Positive values slow an item through a keyframe (ease-in) while negative values speed it up (ease-out).

With Linear, the curve receives a linear angle consistent with the angle at the start or end points.

Tension 1

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LightWave 9 - Layout NOTE: If you right-click on a key, choosing Ease In/Out from the pop-up menu will set the Tension to 1 for all selected keys using

TCB Spline.

Continuity accentuates a break or change in an objects graph (-1 = sharp , 0 = normal , 1 = smooth). Negative Continuity gives a sharper transition in the spline path at a keyframe, while positive Continuity gives a broader transition (sometimes over-continuous) through a keyframe. Negative Continuity is usually used to replicate a sharp change in motion such as that of a falling ball striking a oor and quickly reversing direction.

Tension 0

Continuity 1

Tension 1

A high Tension value (1.0) is often used at the end of a ying logo move in order to make the logo come to a gradual stop. High Tension at the beginning of this move would make the logo start slowly, while a negative value would make the logo start quickly.

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Bias determines whether an items spline path leans to one side of a keyframe or the other (-1 = more slack incoming, 0 = equal slack, 1 = more slack outgoing). You accomplish this effect by moving the slack in the spline path to one side or the other of a keyframe. This serves to accentuate motion the incoming motion by undershooting the keyframe and creating a feeling of anticipation, or the outgoing motion by overshooting the keyframe. For example, a racing car moving through a turn could use either a negative or a positive Bias setting to a) anticipate the turn with a negative Bias, or b) overshoot the turn with a positive Bias. Negative Bias values place the slack before the keyframe while positive Bias values place it after the keyframe.

Continuity 0

Bias -1

Continuity 1

You would rarely want to use a positive continuity this will cause an object to overcompensate as it passes through the keyframe and appear to stutter or roller coaster at the frame.

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LightWave 9 - Layout to increase the value. You will see a small indicator in the lower-left corner of the graph. This only works in the Move Edit Mode and for the rst mouse drag. The tool stops when you release the mouse button.

Hermite Spline
Bias 0

If you use Hermite Spline, a tangent control handle will appear, emanating left from the key. This type of curve is an extension of the standard TCB Spline, but allows a wider range of results. Drag the handle (at the end) up or down to change the angle of the tangent and thus the shape of the curve.

Bias 1

NOTE: Note that TCB Splines generally limit you to more realistic results.

Interactive TCB Adjustments

You can interactively adjust TCB keys with your mouse. Simply press F1 for tension, F2 for continuity, or F3 for bias and then drag your mouse left to decrease or right

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Bezier Spline
Splines using Bezier Spline operate like bezier curves do in many industry-standard paint and illustration packages. When you create a key, you must drag before releasing your mouse button to edit the handles. Otherwise, bezier keys have handles that coincide with the key. For an existing key, select it and then click-drag on it to pull out the handles.

Stepped Transition
Stepped transition holds the preceding keyframe value and then abruptly jumps to the next keyframe value at that frame.

Drag the handles to change the angle of the tangent and thus the shape of the curve. If you are curious, Bezier splines are indeed a variant of Hermite splines, and thus the results will be very similar.

Dual-handled Control Points

FUN FACT: Bezier curves were developed by Pierre Bzier for designing Renault automobile bodies. When a Hermite or Bezier (incoming curve) key is followed by another key with the same incoming curve type, the (outgoing) tangent on the right side will affect the outgoing curve as well. Normally, the outgoing tangent will be unied with the incoming tangent. That is, they will operate as though there is only one tangent.

Linear
Linear removes the gradual, smooth nature of a spline curve change and replaces it with more direct, sudden change. Linear affects the changes between the current keyframe to the previous keyframe only. By turning Linear on or off at different keyframes, graphs may contain both gradual and sudden changes.

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Expressions
Expressions are an advanced LightWave 3D feature that uses mathematical formulas to modify the value of any animation channel. Expressions let you make the motion of scene items dependent on other item motions or factors in a scene. You could, for example, force an object to stay between two other objects, keep feet from going through the oor, or even control the entire posture of a character based on its feet! The possibilities are endless. There are two types of expression, Bracket expressions and LScript expressions. Each has their advantages and disadvantages. Bracket expressions take their name from the fact that the channel they are reading is always enclosed in square brackets, [ and ]. The LScript expressions have a syntax similar to that of LScript. You can use much of the LScript documentation to help with the use of the functions available for using in LScript expressions. NOTE: You can obtain a reference of available functions from the LScript documentation or from Expression Builder.

You can break the tangents, that is, make them operate separately by holding the Alt key and then dragging either side.

Graph Editor: Expressions Tab

Expressions are built right into the Expressions Tab on the Graph Editor. This implementation has several advantages over the channel expression modier. First, expressions are not an attribute for a single channel. Instead, the expressions stand alone and channels are attached to them. This allows you to attach multiple channels to a single expression! Moreover, you can save and load libraries of expressions you create.

To reunite the tangents, just double-click on either control handle. The opposite side will line back up.

Chapter15: Scene Management NOTE: To get interactive updates in Layout for expressions, make sure you have Auto Key active.

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To rename an expression:
Step 1: Make sure the expression is selected. Its name will appear in the Name eld. To select a different expression, choose it from the Expressions... pop-up menu. Step 2: Type a new name into the Name eld. This will have no effect on any of the expressions channels.

To create an expression:
Step 1: Click the New expression button. No channels need to exist in the Channel Bin nor does any channel need to be selectedexpressions stand alone. Step 2: Enter a name for your expression in the Name eld. Step 3: Enter your expression in the Value eld. You may also copy the selected expression by clicking the Clone button. This creates an independent copy that you can alter.

To attach an expression on a channel:

Step 1: Make sure the expression is selected. Its name will appear in the Name eld. To select a different expression, choose it from the Expressions... pop-up menu. Step 2: Select the channel(s)in the Channel Bin. Step 3: Click the Apply button. The modied dot () will appear to the left of the channel name in the Channel Bin. The expression must be legal, of course.

Additive Expression
You can use the Value variable to make an additive expression. Value is equal to the (base) keyframed value. For example, if the cameras keyframed X position was 2m and the Lights keyframed X position was 3m, the expression VALUE + [LIGHT.POSITION.X], placed on the cameras X position, would move it to 5m. Note that editing an item in Layout with an additive expression attached (e.g., VALUE + [NULL.POSITION. X]) can cause recursive updates, since youre changing the Value. There are a few work-arounds: Step 1: Do the edit in the Graph Editor; Step 2: Turn off the expression in the Graph Editor. Perform the edit and then turn it back on; or Step 3: Add a null and animate it the same way as the item itself (except without the expression). Then, replace Value in the expression with the nulls corresponding channel (e.g., if Value was the items Y position, then use the nulls Y position instead).

NOTE: It is possible to attach multiple expressions to a single channel, but this is not recommended. The expressions will be evaluated in the order they were attached; however, there is no way to determine that order.

To determine what channels are attached to an expression:

Step 1: Make sure the expression is selected. Its name will appear in the Name eld. To select a different expression, choose it from the Expressions... pop-up menu. Step 2: Click the Get Channels button. The contents of the Channel Bin will be replaced with the channels attached to the current expression.

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LightWave 9 - Layout Channels referenced in this way will be evaluated in a dependency-conscious way. In other words, if channel X references channel Y, which has an expression that follows channel Z, then the bracket notation insures that the Y channels expression (referencing Z) is evaluated before computing channel X. Bracket notation expressions may also take an optional time argument. The syntax is [CHANNEL,TIME_ARG] where TIME_ARG may be any legal expression, but cannot include anything using the bracket notation syntax. An example of a bracket notation expression that follows the cameras X position, but lags by half a second, would be [CAMERA.POSITION.X,TIME - 0.5]. To make it lag by four frames, it would be [CAMERA.POSITION.X,FRAME - 4].

NOTE: The name of an expression on the Expressions... pop-up menu will list the number of channels attached to it in parentheses.

To remove a channel from an expression:

Step 1: Select the channel(s)in the Channel Bin. Step 2: Click the Remove button.

Libraries
You can save all of the existing expressions to a le on your hard drive by choosing Expressions... > Save Library. To load a previously saved library, choose Expressions... > Load Library. If an expression exists with the same name, it will be replaced. Otherwise, the library of expressions will be added to the list. You can clear all unused expressions by choosing Expressions... > Clear Unused. This clears out any expressions that do not have any channels attached.

To use bracket notation expressions:

Step 1: Add two null objects named Control and Action to an empty scene. Step 2: Animate the Control null on its Y axis. Step 3: Attach the expression [Control.Position.Y] to the Action null. This would lock the two together on the Y axis; wherever Control goes, Action follows. Step 4: Change the expression to [CONTROL.POSITION. Y,TIME]. This has the exact same result. As such, unless you want to modify Time, you do not need to use the time argument. Step 5: The expression [Control.Position.Y,Time - 1] would lock Action to Control, but give it a one second delay. Step 6: The expression [Control.Position.Y,Frame] also has the same result as the original expression, but differs in that it feeds the time of the current frame to the expression. This lets you do something like: [Control.Position.Y,Frame - 30]. [Control.Position.Y,Time - 1] and [Control.Position. Y,Frame - 30] yield the exact same results (assuming 30 fps). One expression is working with seconds and the other is working with frames.

Expression Syntax
LightWave supports two types of expression syntax. The rst is identical to the Channel Expression syntax (e.g., the x position of a light at time t is given by LIGHT.POS(TIME). X). This works normally, as does all of the control syntax (x < 5 ? y : -y). With integrated expressions, you can also use a bracket notation syntax to reference any channel in the system. By placing square brackets ([]) around a full channel name, you may access any channel in the system. This includes MorphMixer channels, envelopes, and so on (e.g., [CAMERA.ROTATION.H]). You can freely mix and match the two methods of referencing item information ([LIGHT. POSITION.X] and LIGHT.POS(TIME).X).

Chapter15: Scene Management NOTE: Make sure you use spaces around math operators, like the minus sign used above. Not doing so may confuse the expressions parser, which allows some of those characters in scene item names. Loops are not allowed and the system will report an error if any are detected.

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For example, this expression shows how you could nd the center X coordinate of two items using scalar values: ([Left.Position.X] + [Right.Position.X]) / 2.0 Here is an expression that performs the same feat, but using vectors: center ([Left.Position], [Right.Position]).x An advantage to the second method is that items with spaces in the names can now be referenced by vector functions.

Bad Expressions
If an integrated expression is erroneous, an error dialog will appear when you attempt to apply it or otherwise exit the input eld (e.g., using TAB key, ENTER key, mouse click, etc.). Also, the Apply button will show Uncompiled instead of Apply.

Expressions Tree
The Scene list area for the Graph Editor has an Expressions Tab. The Expressions tree shows all the expressions in the system. The rst column reects the active state of an expression. You may toggle the expression on and off by clicking in the On column. All attached channels will be affected.

Subexpressions
An expression may reference another expression (subexpression). The format is identical to other bracket notation calls, except that in place of a channel name, you supply an expression name. Time may still be specied, just as if it was a channel reference. So [myCenter, Frame - 5] would cause the system to evaluate the expression myCenter at the current Frame - 5 and return that value. If the subexpression contains a reference to the Value variable, then the current value of the channel whose expression is using the subexpression will be used. In other words, all expressions within an expression are using the same Value variable. Also, subexpressions may not themselves contain subexpressions. There will be no error, but any sub subexpression will always return 0.0 upon evaluation.

The Attached column shows the number of channels attached to the expression. Double-click an expression name and the contents of the Channel Bin will be replaced with the channels attached to that expression. You will also select the expression. Hold the Shift key and double-click to add the channels without removing any. If you right-click an expression name, a pop-up menu appears, allowing you to delete the expression. This will detach any channels that may be using it.

Vector References
Bracket notation references to channels may also reference a vector for position, rotation, or scale. This works with the built-in expression functions that take vectors as parameters.

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Expression Builder
The Expression Builder is a wizard-type feature designed to help you write expressions. To access it, click the Builder button on the Graph Editors Expressions Tab. This will guide you through setting up a single function as an expression.

Bracket Expressions Syntax

Bracket expressions always have the channel reference enclosed in square brackets and have the general syntax as shown in the gure.

You can also use Frame in place of the Time and you can also do things like refer to earlier times e.g. [objectName.Position.X, Time 0.1] The primary disadvantage of Bracket expressions is that they may only be used via the Expressions Tab in the Graph Editor.

To use, rst select an expression function from the Expression Builder Basics pop-up menu at the top. The Description Tab gives you a description of what the expression is. The Example Tab gives you an example of how to use the expression. The Applications Tab explains why the expression might be used. Once an expression template is chosen you will be presented with a composite of the expression below the info windows where you are presented with pop-up menus to set what values and/or channels are driving each of the components. Once youve set the inputs, click Accept. You will be able to rename and modify the expression on the lines below. Click Create Expression to add the expression to the Graph Editors list.

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LScript Expressions Syntax

LScript expression are not enclosed by square brackets. The object property is all lowercase, as is the channel see the gure below.

LScript Expressions are generally used via the Modiers Tab in the Graph Editor,

One advantage of LScript expressions applied in the Motion Expressions Panel is that they can act after an IK example. LScript expressions can also be used to create expressioncontrolled displacements via the Displacements Panel where the expression can act before or after a bone deformation. or, more typically, via the Motions Options Panel.

Using Expressions Examples Example 1: Expression Basics: Rotating a Gear

William Vaughan says: Ive been using LightWave for many years now and Expressions have always been something that I considered too technical, something that Id give my math friends to work on. It wasnt until recently that I found out that its quite simple to use expressions. This tutorial will walk you through setting up a basic expression that will help speed up animating gears on a Mech.

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LightWave 9 - Layout Step 2: Select Crunk_rightthigh as the Current Object.

Creating an Expression:
Step 1: Load the Crunk Car from the Content CD.

Step 3: Open the Graph Editor by clicking on the Graph Editor button, or use the keyboard shortcut of Ctrl F2. Our goal in this setup is to have the gears automatically rotate when the Thigh Crunk_rightthigh is rotated. The lower gear Crunk_Gear01 is already setup to rotate by being parented to the thigh. We can do this because the lower gears pivot point is in the same place as the Thigh. The upper gear Crunk_Gear02 doesnt share the same pivot point and needs to rotate in the opposite direction. You could manually animate the upper gear but using an expression will save you the hassle. Step 4: Click on the Expressions Menu Tab located under the graph display.

Chapter15: Scene Management Step 5: Click the button labeled New and give it a name. I chose to name mine Gear_02.

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Step 7: We want the Gear to spin the opposite way of the Thigh by giving it a negative value of the Thighs Pitch. The - makes it negative, now all we need is the Pitch value of the Thigh. From the Channel List choose Crunk:Crunk_ rightthigh.Rotation.P.

Step 6: In the Value eld, select Value and replace it with -.

The - will make the gear spin the opposite way of the thigh by giving it a negative value.

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LightWave 9 - Layout The Value Field should look like this:

Step 8: Right-click and choose Append to Expression.

Congratulations! You have just written your rst expression. Now that wasnt so hard was it? All we need to do now is apply this expression to Crunk_Gear02 and well be nished with the setup.

Applying an Expression:
Step 9: Now that we have our Expression lets apply it to the Gear. From the Channels list select Crunk_Gear02.

Step 10: From the Channel List choose Crunk_gear02. Rotation.P .

Chapter15: Scene Management Step 11: Click Apply.

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Step 13: Select Crunk_rightthigh as the Current Object, and rotate its Pitch. Crunk_Gear02 should rotate on its Pitch in the Opposite direction of Crunk_Gear01 and Crunk_rightthigh.

NOTE: A small dot is placed next to the channel to let you know that it has an expression attached to it.

Well, there you have it. Your rst expression applied and in action. Weve only scratched the surface on the power of Expressions in LightWave.

Example 2: Expression Builder

In this example we will use the Expression Builder to center the hips of a character between its two feet. This example assumes the characters hips are not determined by any form of IK calculation. If that is the case you will need to use LScript expressions (applied via the Motion Options Panel) as only Lscript expressions can act after IK. Lets take a look at what happens when we rotate the Thigh. Step 12: Close the Graph Editor window and make sure that Auto Key Create is selected. Assume the name of the characters two feet are footLeft and footRight and that the position of the hips are controlled by a single null called hip. To center the hip null we will x its X and Z coordinates (and leave the height, Y, to the animator).

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LightWave 9 - Layout This brings up the expression template all you have to do is say which channels you want to slot into the template. Expression builder will then create the full expression for you and add it to the Graph Editor. The template for hip centring can be seen below.

Open the Graph Editor and load the hip channels. Click on the Expressions Tab your panel should look like the gure.

If you select your hip null before opening the Graph Editor the hip channels will automatically be added to the channel bin. First we will create the bracket expression to center the X coordinate of the hip null. Click on the Builder button to open the Expression Builder Panel, click on the Expression Template button at the top of the panel and select the Hip Center (Type A) menu option as shown below.

The good thing about the Expression Builder (apart from creating a template for you) is that it also gives an explanation for how to use the expression template. To center the hips we will use the center function. This function takes two arguments, the two coordinates between which you want to center the object. The important thing to understand is that the expression can only center in one dimension. To center in two dimensions (ie. the X and Z coordinates) we use the expression twice. Once to center the X coordinate and a second time, using the Z coordinates, to center in the Z direction. Back to the Expression Builder template First for the X direction. We need to enter the X position of the left foot and the right foot. To do this for the left foot click the Left Foot pop up menu button and select the Channel option to bring up the Channel Selection Panel as shown:

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Do the same for the Right Foot pop up menu, but now select the Position.X channel for the rightFoot object. The Expressions Builder Panel should now look like this:

and then select the Position.X of the footLeft object. Click Choose and you should notice that the X position channel of the footLeft object has been entered into the expression (which is written in the Value eld on the panel) as shown:

Now, click the Accept button to accept the expression. Expressions Builder gives the expression a name in the Name eld usually something like newExp_2 delete this and replace it with something meaningful like centerHips_X. Finally, click Create Expression this tells Expressions Builder to enter the expression in the Expression elds in the Graph Editor. Close Expressions Builder and the Graph Editor should now contain your expression as shown below.

In order for the expression to actually affect the X coordinate of the hip object we need to Apply the expression the X channel of the hip object. To do this select the hip.Position.X channel in the channel bin and then click the Apply button. The hip.Position.X channel should then have a dot to the left of the name to show that that channel has an expression applied to it. If you have the Always Show Modied switched on in the Graph Editor options then as soon as you apply the channel the modied curve will appear in the curve window as shown:

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LightWave 9 - Layout If you look at the Utility functions in Expression builder you will notice there are several variations of hip centring which are a little more complex to set up but they give you more control over your character.

Example 3: Joystick Control for Morphs

In this more advanced example we will use Expression Builder to create the expressions for a joystick control. The joystick will be used to control the blinking of a characters eyes. We still have to center the Z coordinate of the hip object. To do this you could use the Expression builder again (choosing the Position.Z channels for the foorLeft and footRight template slots), however, there is a quicker method. Since the expression for the Z coordinate is similar to the X coordinate we can create it by Cloning the centerHip_X expression. You do this by clicking the Clone button (on the Expression Tab of the Graph Editor). This will create the same expression, but with the new name centerHip_X (Clone). All you need to do is edit the expression name change it to something like centerHip_ Z and then change the Xs in the actual expression to Zs. Then select the hip.Position.Z channel in the channel bin and click Apply to get: Overview: We begin by explaining what we are trying to do. The blinking of a characters eyes is modelled using four morphs: A left eye blink, a right eye blink, both eyes blinking and both eyes opening wide. We will control the left and right eye blinking by moving a null to the left and right respectively. The opening and closing of both eyes will be controlled by the same null, not with the left/right motion, but with the up/down motion of the null. We will call this null the joystick null. The big advantage of using this method is that if we move the null both sideways and up (or down) ie. diagonally, we will simultaneously combine all four morphs by using only one controller the joystick null. How do we achieve this with expressions? We will use four expressions: blinkLeft, blinkRight, blinkBoth and wideOpen. Each expression will connect the joystick null to one of the four morph channels: object.Body.Eyes.Blink_Left, object.Body.Eyes.Blink_Right, object.Body.Eyes.Blink_Both and object.Body.Eyes.Wide_Both.

Your hips will now remain centered between the characters feet no matter what the feet do.

Chapter15: Scene Management (The actual object in the screenshots is called William_Rig.) There remains one further hurdle: when the joystick null moves, it will move a certain distance (eg 50mm) which will need to be converted into a morph percentage. When using morphs, 100% is actually represented by the number 1 (and 0% by 0). Thus if we want a distance change of 50mm to correspond to a morph percentage change of 0% to 100% a function called maprange will convert this range of 0 to 1 for us. The joystick is just a null which we will move in the XY plane to control the morphs. The utility of the joystick approach is greatly enhanced if there is some graphic on-screen indicating which directions correspond to which morph changes, and also, where 0% position is. For this example we have created all of these using ve other nulls. Four nulls are used with an Item Shape custom object whose only purpose is to place some text in the viewport. The last null has a square as the custom shape showing the range for the joystick (and the center). Also, all the nulls are parented to the square window null. This allows us to position the whole joystick control setup anywhere in the scene. For convenience, the joystick is usually placed in a viewport by itself (or alongside any other such controls).

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In terms of distance the null is moving from X=0 (at O) to X=-50mm (at A) the full range of the eye closing corresponds to a morph percentage change of 0 to 75% or, for the expression, a change from 0 to 0.75.

We will use Expression Builder (EB), so open the Graph Editor, click the Expression Tab and click the Builder button. Once the EB is open, use the pop-up menu to choose the Clamped Range utility function as shown: We will start by creating the BlinkLeft expression. This expression will control the closing of the left eye as the joystick moves from O to A (see the gure).

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LightWave 9 - Layout and then select the X position channel of the joystickControl object.

We now have an expression template with ve inputs.

This is the function that maps the range of the joystick controller (ie. 50mm to 0mm) to the range of the morph (ie 0.75 to 0.0) To use it we need the joystick controller to go in the rst input, so, select the Channel from the Controller input

Now, the Input Min is the minimum value (as a number) that the joystick controller will take. In this case it is 50mm, or 0,05. Thus, choose the number option in the Input Min popup,

and enter 0.05. Similarly, for the remaining three entries: The Input Max is the maximum value we expect the X coordinate of the joystick to take (for controlling the left wink it will actually move to +50mm for the right blink, but for the left wink we want an X value of 0 to correspond to the 0 morph percent. Thus the Input Max is 0. For the Output Min we want 0.75 the morph percent that corresponds to 50mm (which isnt actually the smallest number), and for the Output Max we want 0 (giving a morph percent of 0%). Once all your numbers are entered, the template should look like this:

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Now, click the Accept button, which tells EB to accept all your template entries. EB usually gives the expression some generic name; so delete it and type in winkLeft for the expression name. Thats it for the left eye winking. If you move the joystick controllers X position from 50mm to 0 the left eye should wink. We now have to repeat this three more times to create the expression to control the right wink, the wide open case and the both closed case. The process is exactly the same except that the numbers entered into the Expression builder need to be changed and, for the blinkboth and wideOpen cases, it is the Y position of the controller that is used. These three EB Panels are shown below:

Finally, click the Create Expression button. This tells EB to send the expression to LightWave. If you now open the Graph Editor and click on the Expression Tab you should see your expression!

Wink right

You can close the EB Panel as we wont need it until later. Back in the Graph Editor (GE), we now have to attach or apply the expression to the channel which it is going to control ie the left blink morph channel. To do this you need to get the channel into the channel bin (the list is on the top left of the GE). In our scene the morph channel is called William_Rig:Body.Eyes.Wink_Left. Once it is in the channel bin select it and then click the Apply button on the Expression Tab. A dot should appear next to the morph channels name telling you it now has an expression attached to it.

Blink Both

Wide Open

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LightWave 9 - Layout Data exchange between UDFs is not limited in their types. UDF-to-UDF calling is exactly the same as it is in LScript. By way of example, assume the following les exist in the required directory: LightWave->LScripts->expressions->library.ls LightWave->LScripts->expressions->channelValue.ls The library.ls le contains the following content: locateChannel: fullchannel \{ parts = parse(.,fullchannel); group = ChannelGroup(parts[1]); // start with root channel group lastgroup = group; subgroup = nil; x = 2; while(group) \{ // scan sub-groups to match parts[x] // if a match cant be found, then it // is probably the start of the channel // name subgroup = ChannelGroup(group,subgroup); last if !subgroup; if(subgroup.name == parts[x]) \{ group = subgroup; lastgroup = group; subgroup = nil; ++x; \} \} if(!lastgroup) return(nil); // anything left in the parts[] array are the components

Once you have applied these three expressions to their respective channels your joystick controller should be fully functional. One last thing. Why is the clamp function part of each expression? The maprange function can take values outside the range of the output min and max values i.e. it can give negative morph percents or percents greater than 100%. But the clamp function stops this from happening. It takes in the values of the maprange function and forces them to stay within the range of the very last two numbers in each expression (in this case, the range 0 to 0.75)

Connecting LScripts to Expressions

You can write an Lscript function, or user dened function (UDF), using all the keywords available in LScript and then access the function in an expression. Employing embedded LScript, users can now write their own functions to use with LightWave Expressions. Expressions UDFs are used just like any built-in Expressions function. Parameter passing is limited to simple data types strings, numbers and vectors. As long as an expression evaluates to one of these data types, it can be used as an argument. Expressions UDFs are stored in the LightWave->LScripts directory within their own directory called expressions. A default library of functions can be maintained within this directory called library.ls. This library of functions is automatically loaded into the Expressions engine when LightWave is initialised, and its dened functions are consequently available to any LightWave expression or Expressions UDFs that references them. Additionally, individual Expressions UDFs can be stored in their own les in this same directory. The name of the le containing the UDF must exactly match that of the function name being referenced. The le may contain any number of other UDFs to support the main function, but must contain at least a UDF whose name and argument count matches that being referenced in the expression.

Chapter15: Scene Management // of the channel name itself. put them together for // channel searching channelname = ; // avoid creating an array psize = parts.size(); while(x <= psize) \{ channelname += parts[x]; if(x < psize) channelname += .; ++x; \} // scan the dened channels in the nal group to see // if we can match the channel name chchannel = lastgroup.rstChannel(); while(chchannel) \{ last if chchannel.name == channelname; chchannel = lastgroup.nextChannel(); \} return(chchannel); \} // replace the built-in clamp() function clamp: val, lower, upper \{ result = val; if(val < lower) result = lower; else if(val > upper) result = upper; return(result); \} While the channelValue.ls le contains the following content: chan; chanName; channelValue: channel, time \{ if(chanName != channel) chan = nil; if(!chan) \{ // cache the channel for speed chan = locateChannel(channel); if(!chan) return(0); chanName = channel; \} return(chan.value(time)); \}

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In Layout, you might then enter an expression like: clamp(ch annelValue(WashLight.Intensity, Time),0.0,1.0) This will invoke the channelValue() UDF, which then invokes the locateChannel() UDF (dened in the default library le library.ls) to resolve a string channel reference to an actual LScript Channel Object Agent. The channelValue() UDF returns the value of the specied Light Objects intensity value at the current time. This value is then passed to the (script) clamp() UDF (also dened in library.ls) to keep it in a specied range. Alternately, you could use the Graph Editors direct channel reference syntax with the UDF call: clamp([WashLight.Intensity,Time],0.0,1.0) UDF references that have been loaded into the Expressions engine are automatically updated the next time they are evaluated when their respective les have been modied. For instance, if you have expressions referencing channelValue(), altering the last line of the function to read: return(chan.value(time) + 1.0); will instantly return new values the next time the expression is evaluated (e.g., on the next frame). \end{document}

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LightWave 9 - Layout double double double double double double vector double double double vector vector vector string double vector string int string string string string string double string string double round(double,int) frac(double) fac(double) cot(double) sec(double) csc(double) cross3d(vector,vector) dot3d(vector,vector) cross2d(double,double,double, double) dot2d(double,double,double, double) normalize(vector) center(vector,vector) extent(vector,vector) parse(string,string) number(string) vector(string) string(double + int + s tring + vector) integer(double | string) strleft(string,int) strright(string,int) strsub(string,int,int) strupper(string) strlower(string) randu([double | int]) hex(int[,int[,int | true ]]) octal(int[,int[,int | true ]]) angle(vector,vector,int)

Object References
Objects are referenced by their name. The system does not currently support space characters ( ) in object names, so cloned objects (i.e., Null (1), Null (2), etc.) cannot be used unless they are renamed. The Scene object is the only pre-dened object in the system. All other object references must equate to an object in the current scene.

Built-in Functions
double double double double double double double double double int double (int | double | vector) double double double double double double double double double (double | int | vector) (double | int | vector) double range double double sqrt(double) exp(double) log(double) sin(double) cos(double) tan(double) asin(double) acos(double) atan(double) random(int,int) vmag(vector | double,double,double) abs(int | double | vector) ceil(double | vector) oor(double) cosh(double) sinh(double) tanh(double) mod(double | vector,double | vector) pow(double,double) rad(double | vector) deg(double | vector) max(double | int | vector, double | int | vector) min(double | int | vector, double | int | vector) (double,double,double) selector(double,double, double,double) step(double,double,double)

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Common Object Methods and Data (all objects respond)

vector vector vector vector vector vector vector vector vector vector vector vector vector vector vector vector vector vector vector vector vector vector vector vector vector vector vector vector vector vector vector vector vector vector vector vector vector vector vector pos(double) position(double) rot(double) rotation(double) right(double) up(double) forward(double) pivot(double) wpos(double) wposition(double) wright(double) wup(double) wforward(double) limits.pos.min limits.pos.max limits.position.min limits.position.max limits.rot.min limits.rot.max limits.rotation.min limits.rotation.max limits.right.min limits.right.max limits.up.min limits.up.max limits.forward.min limits.forward.max limits.pivot.min limits.pivot.max limits.wpos.min limits.wpos.max limits.wposition.min limits.wposition.max limits.wright.min limits.wright.max limits.wup.min limits.wup.max limits.wforward.min limits.wforward.max

Mesh Object Methods and Data

double int int dissolve(double) points polygons

Light Object Methods and Data

vector int int double double double color(double) points polygons coneangle.rad coneangle.radius coneangle.edge

Camera Object Methods and Data

double double double double double double double double double double zoom(double) zoomfactor(double) focallength(double) focaldistance(double) fstop(double) blurlength(double) fovhor(double) fovhorizontal(double) fovver(double) fovvertical(double)

Scene Object Methods and Data

int int int int int double int int int int double points polygons renderstart renderend renderstep fps width renderwidth height renderheight aspect

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LightWave 9 - Layout pixelaspect aspectratio minspp maxspp recursion maxrecurse recursedepth usingTraceShadows usingTraceReection usingTraceRefraction usingFields usingEvenFields usingMotionBlur usingDOF usingLR usingLimitedRegion lr.x1 lr.left lr.x2 lr.right lr.y1 lr.top lr.y2 lr.bottom limitedregion.x1 limitedregion.left limitedregion.x2 limitedregion.right limitedregion.y1 limitedregion.top limitedregion.y2 limitedregion.bottom

double double int int int int int int int int int int int int int int int int int int int int int int int int int int int int int int

Selector/Converter items
double double double int int int vector string string int int double double vector vector x (selects the rst element of a multiple-data type) y (selects the second element of a multiple-data type) z (selects the third element of a multiple-data type) r (selects the rst element of a multiple-data type) g (selects the rst element of a multiple-data type) b (selects the rst element of a multiple-data type) rbg (converts a vector data into color-normalized data) asStr (converts int, double, vector to string) asString asInt (converts string, double to integer) asInteger asNum (converts string, int to double) asNumber asVec (converts int, double, string to vector) asVector

NOTE: A vector is a group of related values. They could relate to position (X, Y, Z), rotation (H, P, B), color (R, G, B), etc. To get only one component, use a selector as demonstrated below.

NOTE: Expressions react to interactively moved items, even if Auto Key is turned off.

Chapter15: Scene Management NOTE: You may use XS, YS, and ZS as aliases for Scale.X, Scale.Y, and Scale.Z.

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Graph Editor: Modier Tab

Channel Motion Modiers
Channel motion modiers are added on the Modiers Tab of the Graph Editor. These modiers control the motion at the channel level, as opposed to the (scene) item level, where motion is handled by item motion modiers.

Sample Expressions
HeadLight.rot(Time).h returns the heading rotation value of the HeadLight item at the current time. Left.pos(Time).x + Right.pos(Time).x returns the sum of the Left and Right items positions on the x axis. <1,2,3>.y returns 2 <1,1,1>.rgb returns <255,255,255> <.5,.25,1>.rgb returns <127,63,255> BackLight.color(frame / Scene.fps).rgb returns RGB vector value for color BackLight at a user-dened frame converted to a time index using the Scene objects fps setting. The frame variable is returned to the caller and can have its value explicitly set before each evaluation of the expression. 2 * 1 2 3.asVec.y returns 4 ((Scene.usingLR ? (Scene.lr.right - Scene.lr.left) : Scene. width) / 2).asInt nds the horizontal center of the frame.

To use a channel motion modier, select the target curve in the Graph Editors Channel Bin. Then select the modier from the Add Modier pop-up menu on the Modier Tab. Once added, click on its name in the list to access its settings, if any. Channels with modiers will have a small dot to the left of their names in the Channel Bin. NOTE: Modiers that do not have an explicit additive option are generally additive in nature.

NOTE: Also see the MasterChannel Scene Master plugins. This lets you create custom user-dened channels.

BoosterLink
IK Booster Link can be used to link a channel from one controller to a channel in another controller. The Linked controller can be driven by the referenced control. This is very similar to how expressions can be used without writing any expressions.

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LightWave 9 - Layout NOTE: See the IK Booster section, starting on page 282, of the manual for more information.

To control a channel based on the number of particles:

Step 1: Open the Graph Editor and select the desired channel in the Curve bin. Step 2: On the Modiers Tab of the Graph Editor, add the FX_Link modier. Open its Options Panel by doubleclicking its name in the list after it has been added. Step 3: Set the mode to Particles numbers and select the emitter from the Particles pop-up menu. Step 4: Click OK to close the panel and play your scene. The channel you selected will be changed based on the number of particles in that particular frame.You can scale the value by entering a number in the Node/numbers eld. The number of particles will be divided by this value.

FX_Clink These channel and motion modiers let children of a parent, which uses FX_Link, respect the parents time shift setting. This modier has no interface. FX_Link The FX_Link channel modier has two functions. First, it can be used to dissolve out the object when the particles die.

To dissolve an object based on particle life:

Step 1: Open the Object Properties Panel for the object to be dissolved. (Youll also need an existing emitter controller.) Step 2: On the Rendering Tab, click the Object Dissolve Envelope button. This adds a Dissolve channel for the object and opens the Graph Editor. Step 3: On the Modiers Tab of the Graph Editor, add the FX_Link modier. Open its Options Panel by doubleclicking its name in the list after it has been added. Step 4: Set the mode to Particles dissolve and select the emitter from the Particles pop-up menu. Enter the particle number in the Node/numbers eld; 0 is the rst emitted. Step 5: Click OK. When that particle dies, the object will be dissolved to 100%. FX_Link can also be used to vary a channel based on the number of particles at the emitter

AudioChannel
The AudioChannel modier modies a curve based on an audio le.

Click the Name button to select the audio le you want to use. The Value Offset lets you move the entire motion up or down. (The units are the ones used on the graph.) Waveform Scale is a multiplier. Thus, a value of 1 will have no effect. A value of 2 will double the values of the effect and .5 will halve it. Use the Start Time to enter a frame number when the audio should begin. The Filter Strength value will determine the sampling frequency used to convert the audio into a curve. A higher value will cause the curve to more closely follow the contours of the audios sound wave.

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ChannelFollower
Using Channel Follower (aka Set Driven Key) is similar to parenting an object to another, except that you have control over which motion channels you wish to inherit. You can also modify and delay the inherited value. Moreover, the motion can be inherited from the camera, a light, a bone, or any object in the scene.

Cycler
This is a channel-oriented version of the Cyclist item motion modier.

Select the controlling channel in the Channels list window. The Controller Low Value and Controller High Value settings dene how much change is required to equal one full animation cycle. The unit of measure for this parameter depends on the selected control channel. Select the channel you wish to follow from the Channels list window. The amount of seconds entered into the Time Lag eld is added to the current time. This number may be negative. The value can be scaled by inputting a factor other than 100% in the corresponding Scale eld. The Start Frame and End Frame parameters specify when the modier is applied.

Expression
Expressions are an advanced LightWave 3D feature that uses mathematical formulas to modify the value of any animation channel. Expressions let you make the motion of scene items dependent on other item motions or factors in a scene. You could, for example, force an object to stay between two other objects, keep feet from going through the oor, or even control the entire posture of a character based on its feet! The possibilities are endless.

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The Expressions Panel has four buttons: Copy, Paste, Load and Save. The Copy and Paste functions work on a per-screen basis if you type in your full expression, you may click on Copy, open another channel up, and then click on Paste and the entire expression is pasted in, including scratch variables. Click on Save if you create an expression that you want to use again in the future. You will then be able to load it into other channels at your convenience. The A, B, C, and D elds are scratch variables for the expressions. Each of these can have an expression, which is evaluated before the main expression. This means that the main expression can use the variable A, B, C, and D for some other calculated value. The scratch variables are evaluated in alphabetical order, so B can use A, C can refer to A and B, and the D expression can contain A, B, and C. Scratch variables are useful both for breaking up massive expressions and for logically separating the functional elements of an expression. For example, driving a balls pitch based on its Z-distance can simulate rolling if the ball rotates once for every pi*diameter it moves. This expression (pitch = pi*Z/Diameter) ts on a line, but you need to include the models diameter. If you apply it to another ball, the expression must change. If you include the diameter in A, then changing the expression is more obvious; when you scale up the ball, A can be more complex.

Proximity

The Proximity plugin is implemented as a channel modier plugin. It can be added as a channel modier to any channel. This can be done either directly through the graph editor, or via an envelope for a parameter. Controls: Source(item the plugin is applied to): Proximity computes the distance between the position of a source item and one or more target items or meshes. This setting is used to set the source item. When set to (self), Proximity will use the item to which the channel being modied is attached. If the channel is not attached to an item, Proximity wont do anything if the source is set to (self).

Lscript and Lscript/RT

These commands allow you to load a channel-oriented Lscript.

Oscillator
This is a channel-oriented version of the Oscillator item motion modier. The channel is determined by which channel the modier is added to in the Graph Editor. The effect is always additive.

Chapter15: Scene Management Target: Sets the target to which the distance from the source is measured. The target may be any item, with or without a mesh. If an item has a mesh, the shortest distance between the source position and the mesh will be computed. If an item does not have a mesh (such as a null, a camera, or a light) the position of the items origin is used. Use:( How the channel will be effected) Use:Target Only The distance from the source to the target is used. If the target has a mesh, the distance to the nearest point on the mesh is computed, otherwise the distance from the source to the target origin is used. Use:Target and Decendants Like Target Only, but any items parented to the target (and the items parented to those items, etc.) are considered as well. The nearest distance found for all items is used. Use:Target Leaves Only Like Target & Descendents, but only the leaf items are used. The leaf items are those items in the tree which have no children. Use:Target Leaves as Line Like Target Leaves Only, but the positions of leaf items with a common parent are considered as the vertices of a polyline. The shortest distance between the source position and the polyline is used. Use Signed Distance: When computing the distance from a source to a mesh, the distance can be either signed or unsigned. When signed distance is turned on, the distance will be negative if the source is below the surface of the mesh. Otherwise the distance will always be positive. Distance Modfyer: remap the distance calculation Distance Modier:None:

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The channel value is set equal to the computed distance. Distance Modier:Scale: The distance is scaled by the given factor to give the channel value. Distance Modier:Remap: Arbitrarily change the distance to a channel value. Typically this is used in combination with a gradient texture or an expression. All the distance modiers can be enveloped, textured and whatnot for full control of the effect. Added Channels: Sticky.rMeshDistance: Distance of the sticky item to the nearest point on a sticky surface Added Gradients: Distance to mesh: Distance of the sticky item to the nearest point on a sticky surface

SetDrivenKey
Using SetDrivenKey (aka ChannelFollower) is similar to parenting an object to another, except you have control over which motion channels you wish to inherit. You can also modify and delay the inherited value. Moreover, the motion can be inherited from the camera, a light, a bone, or any

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object in the scene.

MM (Motion Mixer) Channel Driver

When an X Channel is added to a Motion Mixer Actor, this modier is automatically added. Removing X Channels from an actor is achieved by either using the Remove Items entry in the Actor Menu, clearing the item from the scene, or manually removing the MM_ChannelDriver modier on the Graph Editor. NOTE: For more information see Motion Mixer documentation, starting on page 152. Select the channel you wish to follow in the Channels list window. The amount of seconds entered into the Time Lag eld is added to the current time. This number may be negative. The value can be scaled by inputting a factor other than 100% in the corresponding Scale eld. The Start Frame and End Frame parameters specify when the modier is applied.

NoisyChannel
This modier randomises a channel.

TextureChannel
This is a channel-oriented version of the Texture Motion item motion modier. It works exactly the same except that you apply it directly to the channel you wish to modify.

The Offset lets you move the entire motion up or down. (The units are the ones used on the graph.) The Scale parameter multiplies the noise amount added in to the channel, so a factor of 1 will have a noise effect, a factor of 0 will have no effect, 2 will double the effect, .5 would halve it, and so on. Speed is the rate of change of the noise, basically like a texture velocity. Phase shifts the effect in time. The formula is: channel value = old value + scale * fractal noise(phase + speed*time )

Since textures are three dimensional, particularly procedurals, use the Axis setting to use the X, Y or Z of the texture. (Note: The differences between the Axis selection can be subtle.) You can also move the texture with the Offset setting and change the size of the texture using the

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Scene Editor
(default keyboard shortcut Ctrl F1)

each time that particular scene is reloaded. Different congurations can be saved for different scenes. You have full control over how these can be set up. Since all instances of the Scene Editor are displaying the same scene information, changes made in on ewill automatically be updated in all other instances, so all Scene Editors are displaying the current state of all the scene properties at all times.

The Scene Editor gives you the big picture of your scene. The Scene Editor is a data viewing and editing hub for many of the properties with Layout that pertain to items and surfaces. It does not intend to encompass all properties in Layout nor act as a complete replacement for those that it does support. But, it does intend to offer ease and speed when modifying data about multiple items or multiple surfaces. It also intends to allow users to have chosen data appear simultaneously within a single panel instead of having to jump around from panel to panel to make changes. Not only are properties about items and surfaces presented, but also any channel data that is attached to these item types. Items refers to Layout Items that may consist of Objects, Bones, Cameras, or Lights. Surfaces refer to surfaces currently loaded within Layout. Since surfaces are always attached to Object Items, an object item must exist in Layout before a surface can exist.

To launch the new Scene Editor, click on the Scene Editor drop down menu and choose New Instance. You also have the option of choosing the Classic Scene Editor as well as multiple instances.

The New Scene Editor is a user congurable scene overview tool. It is used to see everything that exists in a given scene, and can be used to edit most attibutes of any item or groups of items in the scene, all from a single location. Multiple instances of it may be opened at any time, and each can be congured independently of the others. This would allow you to congure one Scene Editor specically for settings that relate to a character in a scene, while another can be set up with options relating to the environment. A third may also be added that congured specially to control lighting, etc. Each Scene Editor stores its own set of congurations, so theyre remembered

The Scene Editor has ve main sections to it, each with a specic purpose. These areas are the Item List, Spread Sheet Property Panel, Dope Sheet Panel, Scene Playback Controls, and the Scene Editor Options.

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LightWave 9 - Layout NOTE: This only applies to Lights, Cameras, Objects, and Bones, not Channels, or Channel Groups. The Visibility (eye) column determines how the item will be displayed. For objects, clicking on this icon will display a pop-up menu where you can select how the object is displayed. This can range from making the object hidden all the way up to showing it as a textured shaded solid. For Objects, the choices are Hidden, Bounding Box, Vertices, Wireframe, Front Face Wireframe, Solid Shaded, and Textured Solid Shaded. For Lights, Cameras, and Bones there is only an on/off state for visibility.

Item List
The Item List allows selection of various items to work with. These include Objects, Lights, Cameras, Bones, Channels, Channel Groups, and Surfaces. Because of the similarities between Objects, Lights, Cameras, and Bones, they have been grouped together to form the Item List view. Surfaces have widely different characteristics and form the Surface List view. Each of these may contain Channels and Channel Groups and these channels and channel groups form the Channel List.

Item List View: Items Tab

This view is used to view Objects, Lights, Cameras, Bones, and their associated channels, for modication within the Property and Dope Sheet views. It also allows manipulation of item hierarchies, names, existence, colors, lock states, selection status, channel selection, and more. The item view consists of an item list with each row representing a single item. Four columns extend throughout the list. These are Active, Visibility, Locked, and Name. NOTE: You can override the Visibility setting to a certain extent by using the viewports Maximum Render Level pop-up menu located on the top left edge of a viewport.

NOTE: The Color and Visibility options affect only the appearance of items in the Layout view. They do not affect the nal rendered image. The Active column activates or deactivates items. Deactivating an object is like setting its Object Dissolve (Object Properties) to 100%, and deactivating a light is like setting its Light Intensity (Light Properties) to 0%. For a bone, this toggles its Bone Active state (Bone Properties). Clicking in the Lock State column will toggle the locking function on for that item. Locked items cannot be selected in the viewports. However, not all methods for manipulating items obey this ag.

Chapter15: Scene Management The lock icon will also appear on the Current Item pop-up menu (on the main interface) next to the items name.

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(e.g., child objects) by clicking the arrow icon that appears to the left of the item name.

The Name column has more options then the other columns. It shows the item name, the type of item, item color. It also allows context menu options, hierarchy management, visibility (showing/hiding) of the hierarchy structure, channel visibility, shows and edits Layout item selection, and shows row selection.

Item Type and Color

The item type icon indicates the type of item and the color used when the item appears in wireframe. You can change the color by clicking on the item and selecting a color from the pop-up menu. When working with complex scenes with overlapping objects, it can be benecial to use different colors for certain items in the scene.

Display/Hide Channels
The plus/minus sign icon will display or hide the individual channels for the item. Most of the time, these are the position, rotation, and scale channels; however, other enveloped channels can also be included, like light intensity.

Expand/Collapse Groups
The scene list is a standard LightWave list window. You can expand and collapse groups as well as subordinate items

Item Name
Simply displays the name of the item.

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Active Item Indicator

When an item is selected (active) a check mark will appear to the right of the items name.

Hide Unselected Toggle

This option allows you to hide any item that is not selected in the list. Clicking the button again will unhide all items. This can be very handy when working on complex scenes that contain many items. NOTE: This doesnt affect the visibility in the viewport, it only affects the visibility in the item list.

There are some rules that govern the hierarchical relationships: Object Item: Can be child of Object Item, Light Item, Camera Item, (none) Bone Item: Can be child of Bone Item, Object Item. Light Item: Can be child of Object Item, Light Item, Camera Item, (none) Camera Item: Can be child of Object Item, Light Item, Camera Item, (none) Channel: Can be child of Object Item, Bone Item, Light Item, Camera Item, Channel Group Channel Group: Can be child of Object Item, Bone Item, Light Item, Camera Item, Channel Group

Hierarchy Mode
At the top of the item list view is the Hierarchy Mode button that toggles the display of items hierarchically. When enabled, the items parenting information will be used to indent child items to the right of their parents. In addition, the ability exists to manipulate the parenting information via the mouse within the item list.

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Adjusting Hierarchy
You can drag item names up and down to change the order and hierarchy (i.e., parent/child relationships). As you drag, a light blue insert line will appear. You insert the item by releasing your mouse button at the lines position. The line will cycle between different lengths as you drag; the different lengths indicate different levels of hierarchy. The relative length indicates the level the line becomes when you release the mouse button.

Item Sorting
Clicking on each column heading can alter the order in which items in the item list are displayed. The columns are: Active, Visibility, Locked, and Name.

Clicking on the Active column will sort based on the active state of the item. Sorting toggles between increasing and decreasing active state. The Visibility and Locked columns sort the same way. The Name column uses alphabetical sorting and applies to item names and channel names. However, lights and cameras are always separated from objects. Therefore, within each hierarchy level, all bones are presented before objects, which are presented before lights, which are presented before cameras. Channel hierarchies are always presented just below the item that owns them. Bone hierarchies are also always presented below the objects that own them and always after the objects channel hierarchies. There are really two hierarchies present here: one for items, and one for channels. They are managed separately and then incorporated into the nal item list view. Item sorting may also support the natural and reverse natural order. This sorts an items ItemID. The Active, Visibility, and Locked columns are always displayed on the left of the Name column so that they do not keep shifting position as the Scene Editor Panel resizes or the item view resizes. The column heading of the Active column is an icon that looks like an A. If this column is used for sorting, an up or down arrow is displayed next to the column heading when increasing or decreasing sorting is used, respectively. When this column is not used for sorting, no such arrow appears.

General Rules
Channels cannot be rearranged in either their hierarchy or top-down sequence. When moving an item, it must not be an ancestor to any new parent. An item cannot be moved to be a child of an item that it can have as a parent. If multiple items are selected for rearrangement, the selected parents of any selected children will be used for rearrangement. The selected children will not be rearranged directly, but will follow their parent automatically. Only the parenting/owner structure may be modied when any sort order display is used. Sorting applies to each level of hierarchy individually. Any child of a ltered item will also be ltered.

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The column heading of the Visibility column is an icon that looks like an eye. If this column is used for sorting, an up or down arrow is displayed next to the column heading when increasing or decreasing sorting is used, respectively. When this column is not used for sorting, no such arrow appears. The column heading of the Locked column is an icon that looks like a pad lock. If this column is used for sorting, an up or down arrow is displayed next to the column heading when increasing or decreasing sorting is used, respectively. Not locked is lower than locked. The column heading of the Name column is the word Name. If this column is used for sorting, an up or down arrow is displayed next to the column heading when increasing or decreasing sorting is used, respectively. When this column is not used for sorting, no such arrow appears. In addition, the use of natural sorting is supported, and is indicated with an arrow that also has a sort indicator of ID.

Item List Right Click Menu

Context menu options are available by RMB-clicking in the item view rows. The row context may change depending on what type of item is in that row. When combining the contexts of multiple highlighted rows, only the options available to all highlighted items will be available.

Selection:
Select in viewports applies current selection to Layout item selection. Select all This selects all displayed items (after ltering). Select none This unselects all displayed items.

Chapter15: Scene Management Invert selection This will make all (displayed) items switch their selection state. Select channels selects the displayed channels of selected items. Unselect channels unselects all channels belonging to currently selected items. Select child items selects the displayed child of the currently selected items. Select child items (recursive) select all displayed children of currently selected items as well as their descendants. Unselect child items unselects all displayed children of currently selected items. Unselect child items (recursive) unselects all displayed children of currently selected items. This differs from a non-recursive form by affecting the expand state of deeper child levels as well as the selected items. Select similar selects all displayed items that have a similar item type and name as the item right-clicked on. Highlight view port selection all items selected in the viewport will become selected in the Scene Editor. Expand child items (recursive) This will make all descendants of the selected item as well as their descendants visible. Collapse child items This will hide the children of all selected items.

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Collapse child items (recursive) This will collapse all descendants of the selected items. This differs from a non-recursive form by affecting the expand state of deeper child levels as well as the selected items.

Manipulation:
Motion property panel opens the Motion Options Panel for the selected item. Item property panel opens the Properties Panel for the selected item. Edit Channels opens the Graph Editor Panel with all the channels of the selected items ready to be edited. Rename: Triggers a dialogue box to rename a single item. Renaming of multiple items at once is not supported. Add: Add null object: Activates the Null Object Name panel and adds a new null. Add object: Activates the Load Object panel. Add object layer: Activates the Load Object Layer panel. Add bone: adds a single bone to either an object item or as a child to an existing bone item. The context determines which. Add camera: allows adding a single camera to the scene.

Hierarchy:
Expand channels This will show all channels for the selected items. Collapse channels This will hide all channels for the selected items. Expand child items This will make the children for all selected items visible.

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LightWave 9 - Layout If a match is found, the item cursor is placed there and any list scrolling or item expanding necessary to view the matched item will be performed as well. It may also be useful to have the perspective camera (or a special camera) change to view that item. That may be accomplished indirectly by selecting the found item while the object centring feature is enabled in layout, which puts the selected item into the perspective cameras view. The search iterates through each list item (regardless of what type it is) starting with the current item list cursor location, progressing to the list end, wrapping around to the list beginning, and winding up at the iteration starting point. The iteration is aborted once a string match is found. Filtered-out items do not get searched. If the search string used has more than one instance, all instances are selected.

Add distant light: Activates the Light Name panel and adds a single distant type light to the scene. Add point light: Activates the Light Name panel and adds a single point type light to the scene. Add spotlight: Activates the Light Name panel and adds a single spotlight type light to the scene. Add linear light: Activates the Light Name panel and adds a single linear type light to the scene. Add area light: Activates the Light Name panel and adds a single area type light to the scene. Clone: allows cloning of any item or selection of items Clear: Clear>Remove/Clear: Removes the selected items from the scene. Clear>Clear all objects: Removes all objects from the scene. Clear>Clear all lights: Removes all lights from the scene. Clear>Clear all cameras: Removes all cameras from the scene. Clear>Clear all bones: Removes all bones from the scene.

Filter
At the top of item view is a Filter option drop down button. These options allow the weeding out of unwanted items and channels.

Item Searching
The Find tool at the top of the item view list is an option to perform item name and channel name searches. Enter a simple search string (the case does not matter), press the Enter or Return key, and the search begins.

The drop down menu has the following options: Options This brings up a separate, but modeless, Options Panel used for selecting the ltering criteria for both items and channels. With the Options Panel previously used ltering criteria can be recalled easily as well. Making changes to the criteria can be viewed in the item list as the criteria changes. Enable/Disable Item Filter ( Boolean) Toggle to affect if item ltering is used on Object, Light, Camera, and Bone items.

Chapter15: Scene Management Enable/Disable Channel Filter ( Boolean) Toggle to affect if channel ltering is used on Channel items. The Options Panel has a section for item criteria and a section for channel criteria. Checkboxes that enable/disable the ltering are duplicated here so that the dropdown toggles may be used in addition to these.

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Contains This determines how to use the item name string. Choices include: contains, equals, starts with, ends with, does not contain, does not equal, does not start with, does not end with.

Filter Option Panel: Items Tab

Item name string eld Any string can be entered to be used to match against all Layout items (not just those currently in the item list). For Items criteria, the following controls exist: Enable Item Filtering ( Boolean) Toggle to affect if item ltering is used on Object, Light, Camera, and Bone items. Stored lters dropdown choose any stored lter. Once selected, it is loaded. You only need save lter settings you wish to use over and over again. Remove this will remove the lter that is currently selected, if one exists. Save this will overwrite the current lter choice with the current settings. If no lter is currently selected, this button acts as a Save As button. Save As click to save the current lter criteria to a lter name. The lter name is requested after clicking this button. Ignore Case This is used to enable and disable case sensitive compares. Include Object Items enable to allow object items Include Bones Items enable to allow bone items Include Lights Items enable to allow light items Include Cameras Items enable to allow camera items Include Locked Items enable to allow locked items Include Unlocked Items enable to allow unlocked items

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LightWave 9 - Layout Ignore This is used to enable case sensitive compares. Include Position Channels enable to allow position channels, which include Position.X, Position.Y, and Position.Z Include Rotation Channels enable to allow orientation channels, which include Rotation.H, Rotation.P, Rotation.B. Include Scale Channels enable to allow scaling channels, which include Scale.X, Scale.Y, Scale.Z. Include Other Channels enable to include any channels that are not the standard position, rotation, or scaling channels

Filter Option Panel: Channels Tab

For channel criteria, the following controls exist: Enable Channel Filtering ( Boolean) Toggle to affect if channel ltering is used on Channel items. Stored lters dropdown choose any stored lter. Once selected, it is loaded. You only need Save Filter settings you wish to use over and over again. Remove this will remove the lter that is currently selected, if one exists. Save this will overwrite the current lter choice with the current settings. If no lter is currently selected, this button acts as a Save As button. Save As click to save the current lter criteria to a lter name. The lter name is requested after clicking this button. Channel name string eld Any string can be entered to be used to match against all channels (allowed) Contains This determines how to use the channel name string. Choices include: contains, equals, starts with, ends with, does not contain, does not equal, does not start with, and does not end with.

Scene Editor Selection Sets

The currently selected items, which may include objects, lights, cameras, bones, channels, and groups of channels, can be remembered for later use via a Selection Set. This simply allows the current selection to be saved and later recalled. Selecting Save Selection will bring up the Specify Selection Set Name Panel.

Once a name has been entered, click OK and the selection set will be added to the Sets drop down menu. Select the set name from the list when you would like to recall that selection. Select Remove Set to delete a selection set from the list.

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Surface List View: Surfaces Tab

This view displays the names and ownership of surfaces currently loaded in Layout. Surfaces always belong to objects. Some of the same behaviours that apply to the Item List View will also apply here.

Surface List Display

Surfaces may be displayed By object or By surface. Display By Object groups all surfaces belonging to a single object as children of that object. Display By Surface groups all objects that contain a surface with the exact same name as children of the surface.

Either way, highlighting a surface will also select that surface in the Surface Editor window. The method of display is indicated within the column heading of the list as either (By Object) or (By Surface). Surface items may also contain channels and groups of channels. For such surfaces, a channel expand icon will appear in that row and will operate as it does in the Item List View.

There is only one column in this list, the Name column. This column is sorted alphabetically by name, but can be reverse sorted as well by clicking on the column heading. A horizontal scroll bar located at the list bottom accommodates rows that are too wide to be fully seen.

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LightWave 9 - Layout Unselect children unselects all displayed children of currently selected surface groups. Select similar selects all displayed surfaces that have a similar name as the item right-clicked on.

Surface List Right Click Menu

RMB-click on a surface row presents context menu options.

Hierarchy:
Expand channels This will show all channels for the selected surfaces. Collapse channels This will hide all channels for the selected surfaces. Expand items This will make the children for all selected surfaces visible. Collapse items This will hide the children of all selected surfaces.

Manipulation:
Surface property panel opens the Surface Editor. The options are the same as for: Edit in graph editor opens the Graph Editor Panel with all the channels of the selected surfaces ready to be edited.

Selection:
Select all This selects all displayed surfaces (after ltering). Select none This unselects all displayed surfaces. Invert selection This will make all (displayed) surfaces switch their selection state. Select channels selects the displayed channels of selected items. Unselect channels unselects all channels belonging to currently selected items. Select children selects all displayed children of currently selected surface groups.

Filter Option Panel: Surfaces Tab

Surfaces and channels can be ltered much like they can for the Item List View. It is a way to prevent certain surface items from appearing in the list. The surface ltering is available via a drop down menu button at the top of the list: Options opens a panel used to select surface item and surface channel ltering options. With the Options Panel previously used, ltering criteria can be recalled easily as well. Making changes to the criteria can be viewed in the item list as the criteria changes. Enable/Disable Surfaces Filter Toggles ltering of surface items

Chapter15: Scene Management Enable/Disable Channels Filter Toggles ltering of surface channels The Options Panel has a section for surface criteria and a section for channel criteria. Checkboxes that enable/disable the ltering are duplicated here so that the dropdown toggles may be used in addition to these.

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Name String Field Any string can be entered to be used to match against all Layout surfaces (not just those currently in the item list). Ignore Case This is used to enable case sensitive compares.

Surface Filter Options Panel: Surfaces Tab

Surface Filter Options Panel: Channels Tab

For Surface criteria, the following controls exist: Enable Surfaces Filtering Toggles ltering of surface items. Stored lters dropdown choose any stored lter. Once selected, it is loaded. Save this will overwrite the current lter choice with the current settings. If no lter is currently selected, this button acts as a Save As button. Save As click to save the current lter criteria to a lter name. The lter name is requested after clicking this button. Remove current lter button click to remove the currently selected lter button. A conrmation requester is presented rst. Contains This determines how to use the string. Choices include: contains, equals, starts with, ends with, does not contain, does not equal, does not start with, does not end with.

For channel criteria, the following controls exist: Enable Channels Filter Toggles ltering of surface channels. Stored lters dropdown choose any stored lter. Once selected, it is loaded. Save this will overwrite the current lter choice with the current settings. If no lter is currently selected, this button acts as a Save As button. Save As click to save the current lter criteria to a lter name. The lter name is requested after clicking this button. Remove current lter button click to remove the currently selected lter button. A conrmation requester is presented rst. Channel name string eld Any string can be entered to be used to match against all channels (allowed). Contains This determines how to use the channel name string. Choices include: contains, equals, starts with,

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ends with, does not contain, does not equal, does not start with, does not end with. Ignore Case This is used to enable case sensitive compares.

Spread Sheet Property Panel

Channels List View: Channels Tab

This view displays the names and ownership of channels used through the entire scene. This can include channels that are not normally visible by other means.

Often you want to edit certain properties of an item, and luckily, changing the values and properties of items is simple in Layout. But what if you need to change the properties for 20 objects? The Property Panel organizes these properties and lets you edit a wide range of values quickly and easily. The Spread Sheet Property Panel consists of two sections, The Bank section and the Column section.

more info.

NOTE: The operation of this list is similar to that of the other list views. See Item List and Surface List View documentation above for

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Property Panel Banks

A collection of columns is called a Bank; and each bank can hold any number of columns. Some predened banks exist that help to organize the vast multitude of properties available. Custom banks, which allow you to dene which columns make up the bank, are also supported. LightWave ships with a large collection of Bank Presets listed below:

Bank Options Menu

Right clicking on the Bank drop down menu will bring up the Bank Options Menu.

Add current cell selection to this banks cells This will use any selected cell position and apply it to the other columns in that bank for that same row. Only cells of matching type as already selected cells will be selected. Transfer current cell selection to this banks cells this works like the add current cell... except that transfer, clears out the current selection, so that the rst type of cell encountered in the bank will be used. Apply item selection to this banks cells This looks at highlighted items on the left side and tries to select cells in the same rows as those items in all the columns of the bank.

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However, only columns that are of similar types can have cells selected. For example, a check box type cell and a numeric type cell cannot be edited at the same time.

Delete custom bank deletes the custom bank preset. It will not remove a bank instance based off that custom preset, just the preset so that it will not show up as a bank preset.

Sizing Banks
A bank can be resized using the right-most vertical line. In addition, using the upper portion of the vertical line (the part where the bank name row is) will proportionally size the columns in the bank, while it would normally just affect the last column.

Add this bank from selection attempts to select all cells in the bank. NOTE: The cell types must match.

Adding and Removing Banks

To add a bank, simply click the Add Bank button (+) located at the end of the bank name. To remove a bank, click the Remove Bank button (-) located under the Add Bank button.

Remove this bank from selection Unselects all cells in the bank Rename bank This will rename the current bank for this instance of bank existence. Save as custom bank once any arrangement of columns (including resizing) are made, this custom bank can be named and saved for future use. Use the slider-bar at the bottom of the Property Cells to adjust which bank(s) are currently displayed in the viewing area.

Property Panel Columns

A Column consists of Cells. Each column in the Scene Editor is a property instance having a specic cell type. The Property cells contain the values for each of the properties, for all items. The values range from numerical values to le names, depending on which property you are editing.

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Transfer current cell selection to this columns cells This will select the same cells that are currently selected in another column and apply that selection to the selected column. It will then remove the selected cells in the previous column.

There are many column types available to choose from. Left click on the column header to select the Cell Type for that column.

Column Options Menu

Right clicking on a Column drop down menu will bring up the Column Options Menu.

Apply item selection to this columns cells This will select the cells in the selected column based on the items selected.

Add column after this one This will create a new column to the right of the selected column. Add current cell selection to this columns cells This will select the same cells that are currently selected in another column and apply that selection to the selected column.

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Add this column to selection This will select the cells that make up this column to add them to the selection.

Remove this column This will delete the selected column from the bank.

Sizing Columns
Left click on the vertical dividers between columns to size a column.

Property Panel Cells

Each property has a cell and cell type depending on the type of data being manipulated. Each column in the Scene Editor is a property instance having a specic cell type. The rows are the items shown in the list view. Cells may be edited via a property editing panel, which allows greater manipulation exibility when it comes to changing multiple cells at the same time.

Remove this column from selection This will unselect the cells from the selected column.

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Cell Types
Each cell type has its own unique Adjust Properties Panel, but they all share the Preview, Apply, and Revert options.

Change Value To Value that will be applied to the cell property. Change Value Effect Determines how the value will be applied. The Replace edit mode lets you make absolute changes to the cells values. That is, when you apply the edit to the selected cells, the new value will replace the current values. For example, you select ten cells with various values in each cell, and in the Change Value To eld you enter a value of 2.0. When the edit is Previewed or Applied, the cells will now all read 2.0. The Add, Subtract, Multiply, and Divide functions are all relative editing modes. They adjust the cells values relative to their original values. Use Step This will add the Step value to the primary value incrementally according to the order in which the cells have been selected. Step Effect Determines how the Step Value will be applied. List Array of items like a drop down menu.

Preview This option allows you to see updates to the Scene Editor in real time. NOTE: This is a preview for the Scene Editor Only.

Apply This will apply any changes made to the cell property. Revert This will undo the last change applied to a cell property.

Unique Cell Type Adjust Properties:

Toggle Check Box

Change To This will replace the cell property with the chosen option. Check This will activate the option. Uncheck This will deactivate the option. Toggle This will toggle between active and deactive. Numeric Subtypes of integer, percent, distance, angle, time, oat. Mode Determines how the string will be applied to the cell property. String Strings used for item tag properties.

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LightWave 9 - Layout Enable Item Filter For scenes with many items, use the lter option to limit your selection options. Image Images used for items like Projection image.

String The text or comment to be applied to the cell property. Color RGB color values where each component is 8 bits (not used for high dynamic lighting).

Change Color To RGB value that will be applied to the cell property. Change Color Effect Determines how the RGB value will be applied. The Replace edit mode lets you make absolute changes to the cells values. That is, when you apply the edit to the selected cells, the new value will replace the current values. For example, you select ten cells with various values in each cell, and in the Change Value To eld you enter a value of 2.0. When the edit is Previewed or Applied, the cells will now all read 2.0. The Add, Subtract, Multiply, and Divide functions are all relative editing modes. They adjust the cells values relative to their original values. Use Step This will add the Step value to the primary value incrementally according to the order in which the cells have been selected Step Effect Determines how the Step Value will be applied. Item layout item that is used for parent item, target item, etc

Change Image To The image that will be applied to the cell property. Enable Item Filter For scenes with many images , use the lter option to limit your selection options. Vertex Map Vertex Maps used for items like Bone Weights.

Change Vertex Map To The VMap that will be applied to the cell property. Enable Item Filter For scenes with many VMaps , use the lter option to limit your selection options.

Cell Options Menu

Right clicking on a cell brings up the Cell Options Menu.

Change Item To The item that will be applied to the cell property.

Chapter15: Scene Management Toggle Selection This will select and deselect the cell. NOTE: Ctrl + LMB will toggle selection as well.

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Select Panel This panel gives you the ability to numerically select cells.

Other reorder options are Reorder selection (left to right increasing toward bottom) , Reorder selection (right to left increasing toward bottom) , Reorder selection (top to bottom increasing toward bottom) , and Reorder selection (bottom to top increasing toward bottom).

Selection Zone
Deselect Panel This panel gives you the ability to numerically deselect cells. When a cell is available for multi-selection, it will be divided in two parts: on the left will be the Selection Zone and on the right is the Value Zone. Left clicking and dragging in the Selection Zone of a cell will add the cell to the selection set.

Jump to Editor It is possible for a property cell to open a custom editor. The standard properties dont use this function but it is possible for third party tools to add properties that do. Deselect all This will deselect all cells. Reverse selection order This function will reverse the selection order of the cells that are currently selected. Shift-left clicking while selecting a cell will mark the corner of a selection box, expanding the selection box further out the more cells are selected. Control-left clicking will toggle on or off the selected cell. The cells are numbered in the order they are selected.

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LightWave 9 - Layout Note: String values cannot be added directly in the cell, but must be entered in the Adjust Properties Panel.

Hint: You can hide the Scene Editor by hitting the Tab key.

Note: If you are using the stepping features in the Adjust Properties panel, order of selection will be important. Also, Adjust Properties is defaulted with Preview off to allow you to manipulate the values before seeing their effect on the cells. The Preview button will also be turned off after clicking the Apply button

Note: If you have a Bank and Column selection that does not apply to the item type, the cell will not be selectable at all. The Bank and Column sections will now change the selected choice a different color instead of hiding it when the menu is activated.

Selection Zone Right Click Menu

Right clicking in the Selection Zone will bring up a new menu. This menu has options for changing the selection order. The Adjust Properties panel is also accessible from this menu.

Hint: If you have multiple cells selected and would like to only change a value for one, hold the CTRL key while changing the value.

Scene Editor: Dope Sheet

The Dope Sheet is a form of scratch sheet with which the animation of channel data (position, rotation, scale, etc.) can be manipulated without going into the details of what the exact channel values are. This gives an overview of the scene animation and is useful when the multiple items need to be viewed simultaneously so that their relative timing is correct. This view also allows easy manipulation of a large number of channels in one operation. It allows time offsetting and time scaling of channel data.

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It can also accelerate the process of cutting out portions of motion or transferring motion from an item or channel to other items or channels. This view basically offers a method of manipulating key frame existence without worrying about the exact value of each key frame; one of Graph Editors purposes in Layout. NOTE: The Dope Sheet does not modify key frame values.

The Dope Sheet is a grid, or 2D array, in appearance. The horizontal dimension is time measured in blocks. Each block represents a range of time, which is user adjustable in the Options Panel. The horizontal block visible width has a pixel width, which can be adjusted to see more time blocks or fewer within the visible portion of the sheet. NOTE: There is a minimum pixel width of three pixels for each block.

The vertical dimension is measured in rows. Each row represents a single channel of key frame data, a group of channels, or nothing. The height of each row is predetermined and matches the row height of the Item List View rows and Surface List View rows. Each channel that contains at least one key frame will have its appropriate block colored differently. Similarly, an item that contains one or more channels (i.e. a channel group, but may be any row that has channel children) with a colored block will have its own block colored, differently from the color of the channel block. The range of time that the dope sheet will allow viewing of is determined by the preview rst and last endpoints set within Layout. The scrollbar will then allow viewing within that frame range. There are numeric controls within the dope sheet at the bottom, which also allow setting the preview rst and last frames. These endpoints are shared with the ones in Layout.

The scrollbar has sizing handles on both sides. These are used to adjust the block pixel width so that more or fewer blocks are visible at once. Minimum and maximum pixel widths exist as well.

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LightWave 9 - Layout NOTE: The horizontal scrollbar has a size limit so that it does not get too small to grab hold of. selected blocks. The selection box itself is an outline of the selected blocks. The left and right edges of this box have thin vertical handles used for time scaling operations.

At the top of the sheet is a timeline tick marker display showing what each block represents. A time code is displayed for each block for which there is room to display a time code.

Selecting Blocks
Blocks may be selected by using the Left mouse to drag a selection box around the blocks of interest. The selection box starts in one corner of a block and ends in a corner of a block. The box will snap to the nearest block boundaries and will indicate a selection of contiguous time and contiguous rows.

Clicking the LMB in the left edge of the Dope Sheet will select the entire row for all columns. It is important to note that the dope sheet block selection is independent of an item list selection or surface list selection.

NOTE: During selection, the box may extend beyond the visible portions of the sheet; this will cause the dope sheet to scroll hidden areas into view. The left edge of the dope sheet contains an empty area to show which rows (items) are selected in the dope sheet. Rows that contain some selected blocks appear differently. The top of the dope sheet shows which columns have

Clicking the LMB in the top of the dope sheet (where the time line tick marks are) will select the blocks in that column for all rows shown. This does not include hidden rows or ltered items.

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LMB and drag is used to move the time offset of a selection. Time offsets are applied block by block. If ner time resolution is needed, using the control-key modier while dragging allows the keys to move in time with smaller increments. LMB and dragging the left or right Scale Handles will allow time scaling. Using the left edge will use the selection box end time as a scale reference time. Using the right edge will use the selection box start time as a scale reference time. Clicking the LMB inside a single block will select that one block. The control key can be held down while mouse left-clicking. Doing so will allow the precise location of a key in time to be manipulated instead of whole block manipulations. This can be done when creating the selection box, moving a selection, and scaling a selection.

To add to an existing selection use the Shift + LMB. NOTE: A new selection always cancels an existing selection.

Holding the Shift key down while dragging, will reacquire the keys to be manipulated. This means any key blocks that are currently highlighted AND inside the manipulation box When you highlight some blocks and offset them so that now those original blocks are moved, only some keys may exist that are inside the highlighted blocks and the manipulation box. Hitting Shift while manipulating further will only affect those blocks that are both highlighted and inside that manipulation box.

Manipulating Selections
Once a selection box has been formed, the contents may be manipulated. If a channel group is manipulated, all channels contained within (that are not ltered out) are manipulated even if the group is not expanded. When a range of time is manipulated, only the keys originally selected will be manipulated, even if the selection box now has moved as a result of an operation.

Selection Right Click Menu

Clicking the RMB inside the selection box will popup a context menu:

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Numeric time scale present dialog to scale the current selection in time.

Sheet:
Select all select all blocks that the dope sheet will allow (all tracks all times within preview range) Unselect all unselect all blocks currently selected View all set the block pixel size such that the preview range can be seen in full. Select Highlighted Tracks This will move the manipulation box to the highlighted blocks.

Erase Delete all keys within original selection. No keys After the selection will be shifted. Insert Gap Make the selection box a blank gap. Shift left edge to be right of right edge Delete destroys all keys within selection regardless of originally selected keys and shifts all keys after the selection right edge to the left. Cut Stores keys from original selection into a temporary buffer. Those keys are deleted. The selection box remains. Key times are stored relative to the selection left edge time. The time range is also stored so that the right edge of the buffer is not determined by the last key. Copy Works like cut without deleting the original keys. Paste Over Only available if there are keys stored in the temporary buffer. Places keys into the selection box starting with the left edge as a reference point. The selection box remains. Keys will not be pasted beyond the right edge of the selection box. Tracks are processed top to bottom regardless of where the stored keys came from. Existing keys in the selection box are left alone. Keys with the same time value will be overwritten. When pasting, it is possible that the

Time:
Set time here set current time to the nearest frame to the current mouse position.

Selection:
Numeric offset present dialog to offset the current selection in time.

Chapter15: Scene Management number of rows copied will differ from the number of rows pasted to. When copy row count is less than the past row count, the copied rows are applied row by row and will cycle around again when the end is reached. In other words a copy count of two rows paste count of ve will result in source row 1 being applied to target rows 1, 3, and 5; and source row 2 being applied to target rows 2 and 4. When the copy row count is greater than the paste row count, the excess copy rows will not be used. Paste insert like Paste Over except that all time from the left edge of the selection is moved forward in time in order to make room for the stored keys rst. Then, the paste occurs ignoring the selection box left/right, but it does consider the top/bottom selection. Edit in graph editor opens the Graph Editor with the current selection box selected. This includes time range and tracks that may be selected. Zoom set the block pixel size such that the selection box time range occupies the visible portion of the sheet. Quantize This useful operation will make all keys move in time to the start of the block period they are contained within. This can help x slight offset errors that may have crept in.

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Keyboard Shortcuts
There are also some keyboard shortcuts that can be used: Previous frame (Left cursor key) Next frame (Right cursor key) Previous keyframe (Shift + Left cursor key) Next keyframe (Shift + Right cursor key) NOTE: Your playback speed will vary depending on the complexity of your scene, object display mode, system capabilities and so on. Reducing the size of your Layout window can dramatically increase playback speed.

Workspace
A workspace is a collection of user specic settings that can be stored and recalled quickly. Settings include: panel width and height and location, view dimensions within the panel, Item view selection, lter options, display options, Property view bank and custom bank choices, dope sheet settings, etc. These Workspace settings are stored on a per user basis. A user-specic conguration le is used. The initial workspace data to use is built-in as a default workspace.

Scene Editor Playback Controls

Besides dragging the frame slider to navigate through your scene, you can also use the transport controls located in the lower right corner of the Scene Editor. You can also play your scene backward (left arrow) or forward (right arrow) from the current frame using the playback controls.

The menu presented will show the existing workspaces available as well as options to save one, reset it, and

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remove one. Selecting a named workspace will transfer its settings to the current Workspace settings. Changes to the current workspace do not affect any stored workspaces unless that workspace is overwritten via the Save current as option. Save current as Allows user to pick a name for the workspace. Using an existing workspace name will overwrite that workspace; otherwise, a new storage workspace is created.

General Options

Reset workspace The current Workspace settings (not any of the storage Workspace settings) are reset to their built-in values. Remove workspace A pop-up menu displays the existing workspaces, which can be removed. Choosing one results in losing that stored workspace; this has no affect on the settings of the current workspace. Background color (odd rows) click to change color of odd numbered rows. Background color (even rows) click to change color of even numbered rows. Hierarchy indent (pixels) (unsigned short) set to number of pixels used as a gap for each additional child depth when displaying hierarchical data like layout items. Highlight color ( RGB) color of background for highlighted items.

Scene Editor Options

The Scene Editor options are categorised via the part of the GUI they affect: General, Items, Properties, and Dope Sheet. A separate panel is used to adjust these options, which are stored as part of the current workspace.

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Items Options

Properties Options

Default Object Color ( RGB) new objects are created in this color Default Bone Color ( RGB) new bones are created in this color Default Light Color ( RGB) new lights are created in this color Default Camera Color ( RGB) new cameras are created in this color Auto-apply selection to viewports This will select items in viewports as they are selected in the Scene Editor.

Multiselect cells must have matching units This is useful when selecting multiple channels and properties. When enabled, only those cells that share the same storage units (e.g. length, angle, percentage) will be selectable. It may be useful to turn this off when you would like to select position, rotation, and/or scaling values simultaneously. Limit color component values to 255 When enabled, color values are limited to the 0-255 range. Some properties do interpret and benet from color component values outside this range. (Light intensity for example) View and edit color as HSV This uses the Hue, Saturation, Value approach to displaying and editing colors within a cell. Show cell selection order When enabled, each cell will contain a small numeric indicator of what order that cell was selected. This can be useful when applying values that depend on the sequence of how the cells were selected in a multi-cell selection.

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LightWave 9 - Layout the group blocks (as long as the group item is not expanded). When expanded, only the desired channels will be manipulated even if the parent group is also highlighted. Block period based on FPS value Uses the current frames per second value in layout to determine the block period (or amount of time a block represents). When disabled, you can specify the custom time amount that a block should represent. For example, an animation may be intended for 30FPS rendering, while the creation of the animation may depend on a music rhythm based on a tempo of 96. So, you could set the block period so that each block represents a 1/4 note or 1/8 note. Block period This is how much time each block in a dope sheet should represent. Normally this is one frame but may be larger or even fractions of a frame. This is currently measured in seconds per block and defaults to 1/30th s/block. Block width min. This is the minimum pixel width that a block (that contains key frame data) should be. Block width max. This is the maximum pixel width that a block (that does not contain key frame data) should be. Override block colors This setting will use the Key block color and Group block color instead of the default block colors. Key block color Choose a color for blocks that represent a single data channel that contains one or more keys. Group block color Choose a color for blocks that represent multiple data channels in which at least one of the data channels contains one or more keys.

Open graph editor via E button: ( Boolean) Normally, pressing on a cells E button will add an envelope and then open that envelope (channel) in the Graph Editor. When this option is disabled, the Graph Editor will not be altered from its current state. When working with many cells at once, it may become cumbersome to have the Graph Editor open up when you only wanted to add the envelope.

Dope Sheet Options

Show render rst/last frame markers When enabled, the gadgets for the Render Start Frame and Render Stop Frame are presented and can be moved with the mouse by clicking on them with the left mouse button. Show Key ticks This will allow the precise location of a key in time to be displayed. Allow Group Selection determines if groups of channels can be selected and manipulated when collapsed. If disabled, only channels can be manipulated and never groups of channels. If enabled, a group of channels can be manipulated by simply manipulating

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Scene Editor Audio Options

A Menu button is located at the bottom of the panel that controls some basic audio support features available in Layout.

Classic Scene Editor

The Classic Scene Editor (Scene Editor > Classic Scene Editor) has been completely replaced with the new Scene Editor (Scene Editor > New Instance) and NewTek suggests that you use the new one over the classic one. The Classic remains to help the transition for our customers who have a history with the Classic Scene Editor. can see a list of all of the items in your scene arranged hierarchically as well as all of the individual enveloped channels, perform global edits on keyframes, and change hierarchy. It also allows you to set the wireframe colors, change visibility modes, and even load a reference sound le.

Play Audio This will play a loaded audio waveform from start to nish. Load Audio presents a le requester to get an audio le to be loaded. The audio waveform is loaded and can be seen in the main Layout window within the timeline. Not much detail about it is available however. Audio Start Time This requests the scene time when the audio should start. Fixed Frequency This is a toggle option. When enabled, the audio will play at its intended sampled rate. If time scrubbing does not maintain real time playback rates, then gaps or skips in the audio may occur. When disabled, the pitch of the audio will vary as a result of the playback sample rate changing to accommodate the actual time scrubbing rate. Clear Audio clears out any audio currently loaded.

Basic Functions
The scene list is a standard LightWave list window. You can expand and collapse groups as well as subordinate items (e.g., child objects) by clicking the arrow icon that appears to the left of the item name. The plus/minus sign icon will display or hide the individual channels for the item. Most of the time, these are the position, rotation, and scale channels; however, other enveloped channels can also be included, like light intensity.

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LightWave 9 - Layout setting its Light Intensity (Light Properties) to 0%. For a bone, this toggles its Bone Active state (Bone Properties). This option has no effect on cameras. The eye column is the visibility column. For objects, clicking on this icon will display a pop-up menu where you can select how the object is displayed. This can range from making the object hidden all the way up to showing it as a textured shaded solid.

The item type icon indicates the type of item and the color used when the item appears in wireframe. You can change this by right-clicking on the item name and selecting a color from the pop-up menu. When working with complex scenes with overlapping objects, it can be benecial to use different colors for certain items in the scene.

Double-clicking an items name will bring up the related Properties Panel. If you drag the right edge of the panel, you can shrink the size of the Scene Editor and hide the keys display. Use in this mode as a scene item picker!

The Visibility setting can dramatically affect not only how an object is displayed, but also how fast the display is updated. Moving a 200,000-polygon 100-surface spacecraft around the screen using a textured display surely requires greater computing power than a wireframe six-sided bounding box. There are other reasons as well. Often, in a very complex scene, you may need to play with object visibility options in order to concentrate on certain aspects of the scene. Most of the Visibility settings are self-explanatory. Front Face Wireframe will show only polygons that face the camera. The Textured Shaded Solid adds image-mapped surface textures. The checkmark column activates or deactivates items. Deactivating an object is like setting its Object Dissolve (Object Properties) to 100%, and deactivating a light is like

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Clicking in the lock column will toggle the locking function on for that item. Locked items cannot be selected in the viewports. The lock icon will also appear on the Current Item pop-up menu (on the main interface) next to the items name.

NOTE: The Color and Visibility options affect only the appearance of items in the Layout view. They do not affect the nal rendered image. For lights, cameras, and bones, you can make them visible or hidden by clicking in the visibility column.

Pop-up Menu
When you right-click an item, it displays a pop-up menu. This menu can set the items wireframe color, clear the item, clone the item, rename the item, and open its Properties or Motion Panels.

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LightWave 9 - Layout NOTE: You can also drag keys on the master channel, which will affect only the appropriate underlying channels. There are square handles at the beginning and end of every bar. You can drag these to scale all of the keys in the bar.

Keyframes
The colored bars to the right indicate the length of the keyframed channel. The bar starts at its rst keyframe and ends at the last one. (Note that the ends may be past the end of the visible display area.) The plus signs indicate keyframes.

The line with the items name is the master channel and will show a composite of all of the keyframes in any of the underlying channels.

HINT: For more precise adjustments, use the Shift Keys and/or Scale Keys functions.

Adjusting Channels
You can move individual keyframes by dragging them with your mouse. The affected key is highlighted when you initially click on it. Dragging on the bar, off any key, will move the entire bar forward or backward in time.

Adjusting Hierarchy
You can drag item names up and down to change the order and hierarchy (i.e., parent/child relationships). As you drag, a yellow insert line will appear. You insert the item by releasing your mouse button at the lines position. The line will cycle between different lengths as you drag; the different lengths indicate different levels of hierarchy. The relative length indicates the level the line becomes when you release the mouse button.

Key becomes highlighted as you drag one key

Move all keys for channel by dragging bar

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multi-select them and make a favorite. Then, the next time you want to move them, you just select the favorites set you created and all ve lights are selected automatically. The Select pop-up menu lets you quickly select all items based on their type. To unselect a group of items, just click on any item. (One item is always selected.) The Visibility pop-up menu will show/hide selected or all items. NOTE: An item inserted between a parent and child will always become another child. The Colors pop-up menu will apply the selected color to all of the selected items. You can also set the default colors and apply them to the scene. The Channels pop-up menu will expand/collapse selected or all items. With Shift Keys you can shift keyframes for all or just selected items forward or backward in time. The Low Frame and High Frame values set the range of frames to be affected. This function lets you ne-tune the animation without making individual changes for each item in the scene (a potentially tedious task). Enter a negative Shift Frames by value to shift backwards in time.

Effects of Selections
You can select a contiguous range of (same type) items by holding the Shift key down as you select. Hold the Ctrl key down to select/unselect non-contiguous items.

You can then drag the entire selected range of items to a new hierarchical position. Most of the editing functions can be limited to selected items only. These items will also be highlighted in the viewports.

Some operations can affect frames outside the specied range. For example, shifting a range of frames in the middle of a motion path will cause keyframes after the range to shift so they are not overlapped by the newly shifted keyframes. With Scale Keys you can extend or shorten either the duration of all or just selected items. The Low Frame and High Frame values set the range of frames to be affected. The result is that events occur either more slowly or more quickly, as they have been scaled to take place over a longer or shorter period of time. Scale Keys enables you to ne-tune the animation, allowing certain events or the entire

Classic Scene Editor Buttons

Use the Favorites pop-up menu to create (or delete) selection sets for items that you want to access quickly. For example, if you always move the same ve lights, you could

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animation to take place within a specied time frame so that you do not need to alter specic keyframes manually. The Scale Time by value represents the scaling factor with 1 being equal to 100 percent.

Utilities Tab
Commands
Command History
The Layout interface is built on a command system. Buttons, keyboard shortcuts, plugins, etc., essentially submit commands to the underlying Layout engine, which performs the actual operation. You can view a list of the last commands that were executed by choosing Utilities > Command History.

NOTE: Time-related elements of the scene other than motions and envelopes will not change with the use of either Shift Keys or Scale Keys. Therefore, image sequence loop lengths and texture motion will not be affected.

Adding Audio
You can sync your animation to sound: from the Audio popup menu, load a reference audio le (WAV format) that you can hear when you play the scene. A simple waveform is shown behind the time slider on the main interface. You can scrub though the audio by dragging the timeline slider or preview the audio by selecting Play Audio. Use the Clear Audio option to clear the audio from the scene. The Fixed Frequency option keeps the audio from changing pitch when you scrub the frame slider. You can delay the start time of a loaded audio le by selecting Audio Start Time from the Audio pop-up menu. The value you enter into the dialog is the delay amount in seconds (e.g., if Frames Per Second, on the General Options Tab of the Preferences Panel, is set at 30, entering 1.0 starts your audio at frame 30).

You can execute a single command by entering it with any required parameters in the input eld at the bottom of the Command History Panel. Clicking an entry in the list will automatically copy it to the input eld you can edit the command before hitting the ENTER key.

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shortcuts, thus, running them directly is the only way to execute them. NOTE: To execute commands in a programmatic fashion, use LScript.

Save Command List

You can save a list of commands to a le by choosing Utilities > Save Command List.

LScript
NOTE: To execute commands in a programmatic fashion, use LScript.

LScript
Executes an un-compiled Lscript.

NOTE: You can save a list of commands to a le by choosing Utilities > Save Command List.

NOTE: The un-compiled Lscript le format is (*.ls)

Command Input
If you dont wish to use the Command History window, you can choose Utilities > Command Input and enter a command into the dialog that appears.

LScript is a high-level wrapper for the LightWave plugin Application Programming Interface (API). It encapsulates the complex underpinnings of the API away from the plugin developer, allowing them to concentrate more fully on the task to be accomplished. LScript also provides added features not available in the plugin API, making plugin development faster. Because LScript has its roots in the C language, the transition between scripting and native-language (binary) plugin development is eased a great deal. Scripts written in LScript can often be ported into C with far less effort. This makes it possible to use LScript as a rapid prototyping tool for plugin development. Nearly all of the LightWave plugin architectures have scripting capabilities through LScript.

Obviously, using the user interface to execute commands is far easier, and most users do not need to use these functions. However, you might use the information from command history to reproduce or document the exact operations you made interactively. Moreover, some commands are not available to menus and keyboard

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LightWave 9 - Layout LScripts can be installed in the same way plugins are. The LScripts then become commands that can be added to menus or assigned to keyboard shortcuts. LScript also provides a run-time system, allowing scripts to be compiled into an encrypted binary form that prevents modication or reverse engineering. Facilities for timed or counted execution are also provided by the run-time system. Most important, LScript is a virtual machine system. LScripts are platform independent - scripts written on one platform should work directly and immediately on any other platform supported by LightWave. This differs from traditional plugin development in that each platform must have its own compiler, and each plugin must be compiled and maintained on that platform.

LScripts can be installed in the same way plugins are. The LScripts then become commands that can be added to menus or assigned to keyboard shortcuts. LScript also provides a run-time system, allowing scripts to be compiled into an encrypted binary form that prevents modication or reverse engineering. Facilities for timed or counted execution are also provided by the run-time system. Most important, LScript is a virtual machine system. LScripts are platform independent - scripts written on one platform should work directly and immediately on any other platform supported by LightWave. This differs from traditional plugin development in that each platform must have its own compiler, and each plugin must be compiled and maintained on that platform.

LScript/RT
LScript/RT (Run Time) executes a compiled Lscript. NOTE: The le format for compiled LScripts is *.lsc LScript is a high-level wrapper for the LightWave plugin Application Programming Interface (API). It encapsulates the complex underpinnings of the API away from the plugin developer, allowing them to concentrate more fully on the task to be accomplished. LScript also provides added features not available in the plugin API, making plugin development faster. Because LScript has its roots in the C language, the transition between scripting and native-language (binary) plugin development is eased a great deal. Scripts written in LScript can often be ported into C with far less effort. This makes it possible to use LScript as a rapid prototyping tool for plugin development. Nearly all of the LightWave plugin architectures have scripting capabilities through LScript.

LScript Commander
Lscript Commander (Utilities> LScript: Lscript Commander) can be used to create a command sequence or an actual LScript for Layout. A command sequence is merely a list of commands that can be executed in order from top to bottom. An LScript is similar, but more powerful. In an LScript, for example, you can have programming type commands like loops and so on.

Chapter15: Scene Management The top black area is the session window and can contain either a command sequence or an LScript. You can type directly into this window or copy commands from either of the bottom two tabs. The Events Tab contains a list of commands from operations that have occurred in Layout. The Command Sequence Tab contains a list of all available commands. You can copy commands from either list by selecting them (multiple selection is supported) and then right clicking on the list. Once copied to the session window, you can edit the lines as needed. You can execute single commands by entering them in the Command eld. You can dene and use multiple sessions. The left Session pop-up menu contains controls to start a new session, load an existing one, save the current session to le, and close the current session. The Clear Session option erases all of the commands in the current session. Also on this menu are options to convert a command sequence into an LScript and convert an LScript into a command sequence. The pop-up menu to the right is used to choose the current session, if there are more than one. Click the Execute button to run the current command sequence or LScript. Clicking the Install button will add the script to the Macros group on the LScript Menu Tab.

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LS Compiler
This command will translate an un-compiled Lscript to a Binary compiled Lscript. Use the options on the panel to enable timeout, expiration message, and more.

Choose a Target type before le browsing. The Target is the architectural type of the script. If the script has a @script identier in it, then you can specify it rst, and the compiler will automatically select the architecture. IF=Image Filter PT=Procedural Texture DM=Displacement Map IA=Item Animation (Item Motion) OR=Object Replacement GN=Generic MC=Master CF=Channel Filter CO=Custom Object Lib=Library le NOTE: un-compiled Lscripts le format is (*.ls), The le format for compiled LScripts is *.lsc.

Select Hierarchy
This LScript will select the entire hierarchy which the currently selected item belongs to.

Select Children
This LScript will select all of the children (and their children) of the currently selected item.

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Plugins
Add Plugins
To add plugins from Layout, choose Utilities > Plugins: Add Plugins. (Hold the Shift key to select a range. Hold Ctrl to select multiple non-contiguous les.) In Layout, an informational dialog will appear telling you how many plugin (commands) were added.

To delete a plugin command:

You can delete a plugin command by selecting it and clicking the Delete button. (Other commands from the plugin will continue to exist.) Click Clear to delete all plugins listed. These operations have no effect on the actual les stored on your hard drives.

NOTE: Re-adding a plugin that is already added will not do any harm.

NOTE: A single plugin le can have many functions, some internal and not directly accessible by the user. Thus, when you add one, it may report back that it has added more than one plugin. This is normal.

To rename a plugin command:

You can rename a plugin commands name by selecting it, clicking the Rename button and entering a new name.

To add a directory of plugins:

You can quickly add all of the plugins in a directory (including subdirectories) using the Scan Directory button. (It may take a few seconds to scan all of your plugin les. Be patient!) You can access the Scan Directory feature on the Edit Plugins Panel.

Edit Plugins
To use the Edit Plugins command to review and delete plugins that have been added In Layout, choose Utilities> Plugins: Edit Plugins. You can also use the keyboard shortcut Alt-F11

Chapter15: Scene Management NOTE: You can also add plugins on this panel. The Add Plugins and Scan Directory buttons will add an entire directory of plugins.

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File Grouping Method

If desired, you can list the plugin commands by their .p plugin lenames. Just select the File Grouping Method button at the bottom of the Edit Plugins Panel.

Last Plugin
The Last Plugin function (Utilities> Plugins: Last Plugin) will launch the window/panel of the last plugin used in the scene. This includes shaders, deformers and more. NOTE: This function does nothing if no plugin has been used.

NOTE: In some cases, plugins which are not meant for direct use, but are used internally, will be listed on the pop-up menu.

Flush Plugins
Choose Flush Plugins (Utilities> Plugins: Flush Plugins) to tell the unused plugins to let go of their memory allocations.

NOTE: Some of the Items in the Master Plugins Panel can be found on the interface and others can only be accessed through this panel.

Here is a list to work from:

Camera Selector Only located in Master Plugins Panel. Expression Editor Only located in Master Plugins Panel. Item Picker Only located in Master Plugins Panel. Lscript Located under the Utilities Tab. Lscript/RT Located under the Utilities Tab. Lscript Commander Located under the Utilities Tab. Master Channel Located in Utilities> Additional drop down menu.

Master Plugins Scene Master Plugins

Choose Utilities> Plugins: Master Plugins to display the Master Plugins Panel. Use the Add Layout or Scene Master pop-up button to add global-type plugins.

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Lw_macrorecorder Only located in Master Plugins Panel. Motion Mixer Located under the Windows drop down menu. Proxy Pick Only located in Master Plugins Panel. Scene Editor Located in the Top Toolbar menu. Setup Mode Located under the Setup Tab. Spreadsheet Scene Manager Only located in Master Plugins Panel. This is a legacy tool. For a current Spreadsheet tool use the Scene Editor. Window Congure Located in the Edit drop down menu.

Camera Selector
The Camera Selector master plugin lets you switch between multiple cameras. Note that this cannot be used to switch the camera during a render - the current camera is still used for that. However, you can use it to switch between cameras while playing a scene in Layout or when creating a preview anim. The Render Camera Keys window lists a sequence of frames and the camera to switch to on those frames. Clicking the Add button adds the current camera at the current frame to the list. To delete an entry, just select it with your mouse and click Delete. The Enable Dynamic Preview option turns this function on and off. For CameraSelector to do its magic, it needs information not normally available to master plugins. As such, it automatically creates a null object called SpecialTriggerNull whose only purpose in life is to serve CameraSelector. If you wish to use a different object simply select it on the Trigger pop-up menu; however, normally, there is no reason to do so.

To access, rst bring up the Master Plugins Panel (Utilities > Plugins: Master Plugins). Then, add CameraSelector. Double-click the entry to bring up its setting panel.

Expression Editor
Expressions are an advanced LightWave 3D feature that uses mathematical formulas to modify the value of any animation channel. Expressions let you make the motion of scene items dependent on other item motions or factors in a scene. You could, for example, force an object to stay

Chapter15: Scene Management between two other objects, keep feet from going through the oor, or even control the entire posture of a character based on its feet! The possibilities are endless.

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Use the Name eld to give each expression you create a unique identity. By default the expression will be names Expr1 when you generate the expression. The Name drop down menu, located next to the Name eld, gives you the ability to change which expression is viewed in the workspace.

To start a new expression use the New button located at the top of the editor. Always remember to save your favorite expressions and delete unused or unwanted expressions using the Save and Delete buttons. The Elements drop down menu gives you the following options:

The Expression Editor (Utilities> Plugins: Master Plugins> Expression Editor) is a node-based expression generator. This allows you to build expressions for your scene in a graphical environment very similar to nodebased compositors like Digital Fusion. Channels All available animation channels will be listed in the Items List. Functions All available internal functions will be listed in the Items List. UDFs User-Dened Functions will be listed in the Items List. Operators All available math and comparison operators will be listed in the Items List. Variables All available pre-dened editor variables will be listed in the Items List.

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The elements that are available for each of these options will be displayed in the Items List located directly below the Elements drop down menu.

NOTE: These elds are not used for some elements.

Once you have selected the element you want to use, click the Add Element button located to the left of the Item list to add it to the Expression Editor workspace.

The Workspace is the area where all the elements will be brought together and organized in the Expression Editor. Use the Horizontal and Vertical scroll bars to move around within the workspace.

Left click in the workspace and a small red dot will appear. Use this to determine where the next element will be added. By default the new element will appear in the upper left hand corner of the workspace.

Use the Element Name eld to change an elements name, and the Element Value eld to change the elements value. Both of these elds can be found under the workspace area. These elds will also display the Name and Value information of the selected element.

Linking Elements in the workspace

To link elements together, Left-Click on the white end of an element and drag it to another element. To remove a link, Left-Click in the white area and drag away from the element.

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NOTE: For more information on expressions see the Expression section, including Expression Builder, starting on page 202

Item Picker
Item Picker (Utilities> Plugins: Master Plugins> Item Picker) displays the Quick Pick Panel. You can instantly select frequently used items in your scene by just clicking on the items name in the list.

To copy an existing element , select the element you would like to copy and use the Copy Element function located at the top of the Expression Editor. Use the Copy Branch function to create a copy of the entire hierarchy of the selected element. Once copied, use the Paste function to paste it from the clipboard.

Use the Delete and Delete branch functions to remove elements from the workspace. Once you have created an expression use the Generate Expression function to compile the node-based workspace into a written expression. Use the Apply To drop down menu to select a channel to use the expression on.

Use the Add Item pop-up menu to add an item from the scene to the list. To delete an entry, select it and click Remove. NOTE: The Scene Editor can also be used as an item picker.

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Master Channel
The Master Channel (Utilities> Plugins: Master Plugins> Master Channel) tool lets you create a userdened channel, which will appear in the Scene list of the Graph Editor under the entry MC. You can keyframe the channel and use it as you would any channel.

LightWave Macro Recorder

This tool will monitor the stream of Command Sequence events that take place in Layout, and will generate a v2.0 Generic LScript le that will reproduce the sequence of commands, including their timings.

To create the master channel, add the plugin and enter a name into the Channel Name eld of its options dialog. The Type setting determines the units of measure for the channel. You can add the plugin more than once to create multiple master channels.

Proxy Pick
Proxy Pick (Utilities> Plugins: Master Plugins> Proxy Pick) translates the selection of one object, known as the proxy, into the selection of another, known as the target. This is useful for picking small but crucial items out of complex, crowded scenes.

Chapter15: Scene Management The Apply Label button uses the selected Proxy Object and Target Item to apply the ItemShape custom object to the proxy. The name of the target is used in ItemShapes Label setting and its Draw Line To option is set to the target. If a previous proxy was used, this button will clean up the settings. This is an optional step.

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The Spreadsheet Scene Manager has six sections: Workspaces, Filters, Items, Properties, Timeline, and the Edit Controls. Many of these areas have Expand and Collapse controls, so you can adjust which sections are currently displayed. A message bar above the Edit Controls informs you about the tasks performed.

Workspaces
You can use the Spreadsheet to customise settings and options that are displayed in the Managers panel. NOTE: Remember to disable this plugin when you want to actually select the proxy rather than the target, as it is not yet Whether creating a workspace makes editing easier for you or saves you time, you can congure almost every aspect of the display with this plugin.

telepathic.

Spread Sheet Scene Manager

NOTE: This is a legacy tool. For a current Spreadsheet tool use the Scene Editor. Often you want to edit certain properties of an item, and luckily, changing the values and properties of items is simple in Layout. But what if you need to change the properties for 20 objects? The Spreadsheet Scene Manager (Utilities > Plugins: Master Plugins > Spreadsheet) organizes these properties and lets you edit a wide range of values quickly and easily.

Settings are dened in the Spreadsheet as a Workspace. You create a library of commonly-used displays by using the Create Workspace and Delete Workspace commands. These two commands are found in the drop-list beside the Workspace name.

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Creating a workspace:
Step 1: Customise the Workspace to t your display needs. Step 2: Apply a Name to the Workspace by entering text in the Workspace name eld. Step 3: Select the Create Workspace command in the drop-list menu. Once a Workspace is created, the name of the Workspace appears in the top portion of this drop-list menu. To revert to the settings saved in this Workspace, simply select its name from the drop-list. This will load the settings for the selected Workspace and recongure the interface to match the saved parameters. To remove the current Workspace from the drop-list, select the Delete Workspace command from the drop-list. A conrmation dialog will ask whether you want to delete the Workspace from the scene le. Once you delete it, the Workspace name is also removed from the drop-list. NOTE: Workspaces are saved with the scene le.

Filters
A complex animation might have dozens, if not hundreds, of items within the scene. Searching through this almost endless list to nd a particular group of items can often be frustrating. Using the Spreadsheets ltering options, you can narrow the list down to make it easier to navigate, so you can get to your items faster.

You activate the Spreadsheets ltering tools with the Filter check box. Then you enter the characters for your search in a text eld so that you can search through the item names in your scene. The lter parameters determine how the search is conducted.

To use a Filter:
Step 1: Create a scene with three nulls named leftLeg, leftArm, and rightArm. Step 2: Select Scene > Generics > Spreadsheet. Step 3: Activate the Filter option.

Options
The Spreadsheet Scene Manager has options for customising how the Spreadsheet tools function and how information is displayed. A check-list contains a list of General, Display, and Workspace options for the Spreadsheet.

Step 4: Enter the word Left in the text eld. Step 5: Select the Containing lter parameter. The Manager then searches through the items listed in your scene, looking for names with the word Left. The resulting list of items reads, leftLeg and leftArm. Because the item rightArm doesnt contain the word Left, it is omitted from the ltered list. Activate the Case option to rene the search parameters; Case includes the upper or lowercase characters of your entry in the search. In the example above, activating the Case option results in no items in the ltered list because the search characters contain an uppercase L in the word

You can use this check-list (shown above), or you can access the tabbed interface by selecting the rst item in the list, labelled Options.

Chapter15: Scene Management Left. The item names use a lowercase l and since they dont match, they are omitted from the ltered list. NOTE: The ltering tools are not available in the Hierarchy listing mode. After you create a working lter, you can add it to a favorites list by selecting the Create Favorite command in the Favorites drop-list. This command prompts a dialog window that requests a name for your search parameters. Later, you can quickly reselect the lter and its settings by name. The new lter is placed at the top of the drop-list, above the Favorite commands. Replacing and Deleting Favorites from this menu is as easy as selecting a lter name from a list. This list of Favorite lters is saved within the animations scene le. NOTE: The section of the Spreadsheet Scene Manager that contains the lter controls can be minimised by using the Expand and Collapse button.

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The Item List

Items in a scene are displayed in the Spreadsheet Scene Managers Item list window.

Items in this list are determined by any active lters and by the current Display Mode. Use the plus (+) and minus (-) icons to open and close an items channel lists. By selecting a Display Mode you specify which items the Spreadsheet will include and also how the Spreadsheet is displayed. The Hierarchy display mode lists the items by creating collapsible trees of parent and sibling items. The All Items mode lists every item in the scene, while the Objects Only, Bones Only, Lights Only and Cameras Only modes rene the list to include only certain types of items. The Sort Order mode determines how the items are actually listed in the window. The Natural and Reverse Natural modes list the items in either the order or the reverse order they were loaded

Mouse Functions
The mouse has several different functions in the Spreadsheet Scene Manager. LMB: Selects and highlights a eld. SHIFT + LMB: Range selection. CTRL + LMB: Non-continuous selection. RMB: Opens the cells Options menu. In the Items List: Double-click: Selects the object in Layout.

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or created in the scene. Alphabetical and Reverse Alphabetical will display the items in a fashion that will make it easy to locate individual items. In the Selected Items display mode, you have two additional sorting modes: Selected and Reverse Selected. These modes refer to how the items were selected in Layout.

Editing Cells
The Property cells contain the values for each of the properties, for all items. The values range from numerical values to le names, depending on which property you are editing. Because the Spreadsheet is a non-modal interface, when a value displayed in a cell is changed, the items property is updated instantly. This lets you interactively change the properties of each item and see their results in Layouts viewport. You can dene this level of interaction from the Options check-list. Enable Apply Quick Edits Immediately to make changes as soon as the mouse button is released. Otherwise changes are delayed until you hit the Apply button. There are two ways to edit the values displayed in an items property cell. The rst method is to edit the values directly in the cell. Step 1: Select a cell or group of cells to edit. This can include cells from multiple columns, as long as they are of the same type. The interface will not allow you to mix value types. Step 2: Using the LMB, edit a selected cell. Once you let go of the mouse button, the values for all selected cells will adjust accordingly. The second method is to use Edit controls.

The Property Cells

The Property Editor is where you nd most of the Spreadsheets functionality. Here you can select and edit an items individual value or groups of values for multiple objects. This list of cells is organised using rows and columns, much like a spreadsheet used in business applications. That is why this plugin is called the Spreadsheet Scene Manager.

Listed in the columns, left to right, are the item properties supported by the Spreadsheet Scene Manager. These properties are organized in lists of related attributes called Banks. You can select which banks are currently displayed by selecting them from the Banks drop-list. You can view more than one Bank at a time. You can add and delete different Banks from the Property Cells by using the plus (+) and minus (-) button located by the Banks drop-list. Use the slider-bar at the bottom of the Property Cells to adjust which bank(s) are currently displayed in the viewing area.

Step 1: Select a cell as you did above. Step 2: Use the Edit controls located at the bottom of the interface to adjust the values in the cells. These controls reect the type of value you are editing, so they vary from cell to cell. The image below shows numerical data (integers, percents, distances, angles, time and oats) but it gives you an idea of how the editing controls work.

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Controls for numerical data:

The Edit controls allow you to edit the property cells values in absolute or relative mode. You enter a value in the Change Value To eld and choose an edit effect from the Effect drop-list. The effect selects how the cells value will be altered when the edit is applied. The Replace edit mode lets you make absolute changes to the cells values. That is, when you apply the edit to the selected cells, the new value will replace the current values. For example, you select ten cells with various values in each cell, and in the Change Value To eld you enter a value of 2.0. When the edit is Previewed or Applied, the cells will now all read 2.0. The Add, Subtract, Multiply, and Divide functions are all relative editing modes. They adjust the cells values relative to their original values. In the example above, if you select the Add edit mode, all cells will add the value 2.0 to their original values when you apply the effect. By pressing the Apply button, you commit to the edit. You cannot undo these edits. For that reason, you can use the Preview and Reset buttons to view the effect of the edit without actually applying the edit. If you like the results of the previewed changes, simply press the Apply button and the changes are made to the items properties. NOTE: The Spreadsheet Scene Manager will notify you when you are editing in Preview mode by highlighting the Items, Property Cells, and Timeline Panels.

The Use Step eld lets you increase the values in the selected cells by an exact increment. Simply put the increment in the eld, select an edit mode, and Preview or Apply the changes.

Envelopes
The Spreadsheet Scene Manager also lets you edit any parameters that can support envelopes. Like in Layout, these parameters are indicated by a small E button in the cell itself.

You can add envelopes by group selecting the cells and pressing the E button. You can also use the Shift E combination to remove envelopes from properties. If the cell has envelope information stored in the channel, a keyframe divot appears on the left edge. If a keyframe is located at the current frame, the divot turns yellow, and the value becomes editable. Otherwise this value is ghosted. Clicking this divot will create a key, and Shift clicking will remove a key.

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LightWave 9 - Layout As you select columns, numbered ags appear that reect the sorting order. By dening this order, you can sort the item list according to its properties. For example, you can sort by an objects Subpatch level, which will put all the items at level three at the top, and everything at level one at the bottom.

Timeline
The Spreadsheets timeline has much of the same functionality as LightWaves Scene Editor. You can edit an objects motions by simply adjusting an animation bar located on the timeline.

The long bars let you adjust the rst and last frame for both the Render and Preview ranges. The fth bar in the image above shows the position of the current frame. By sliding these bars around, the Spreadsheet updates the settings in Layout dynamically. You can adjust the Start Time and End Time by dragging the black arrows beneath the frame hash marks. The different colored bars display the frame range of the items motion. Small plus signs (+) within the bars represent the keyframes for motion. To change the start and end time of the motion, you must select the middle of the bar; you can then slide the bar to the left and right. To scale the motion, you drag the left or right handles of the bar. The slider located at the bottom of the Timeline both zooms and scrolls the viewable area.

Column Sorting
You can change a columns sort order by selecting the area under the columns header name.

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Chapter 16: Object Properties

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Object Properties
Object Properties Panel Introduction
The Object Properties Panel controls the settings for the current objectthe object last selected in Layout. It will be shown on the Current Object pop-up menu on the Object Properties Panel and changed here as well.

Object Properties: Geometry Tab

Add Custom Object

NOTE: The Properties Panel for the current editing mode (i.e., Objects, Bones, Lights, etc.) can be displayed by clicking the Item Properties button on the main Layout interface. Use the Add Custom Object pop-up menu on the Geometry Tab of the Object Properties Panel to apply a Custom Object plugin to the current object. Custom objects are usually used to change the look of a null and give you additional visual feedback features. Like null objects, custom objects do not render.

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Lscript and Lscript/RT

Use these two options to run Lscripts for object replacement.

Level-of-Detail Object Replacement

Adding Level-Of-Detail Object Replacement lets you replace the object with another object based on its distance from the camera. This can be a great time-saver for objects that are sometimes close to the camera and sometimes far, during your animation. There is no reason to waste rendering power on a gazillion-polygon battle cruiser that is too small to make out any of its details. If its far enough away, you might be able to get away with a simple box or sphere!

Object Replacement
You can use special plugins to replace objects during the course of an animation.

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LightWave 9 - Layout The rst paired lines must be the object you want at frame 0. LightWave will assume this even if you enter a different frame number. As such, if you used: #LW Object Replacement List 35 c:\ Newtek\ Objects\ box2.lwo The Box2 object would still be loaded at frame 0.

From top to bottom, the entries must be in near-to-far order, so the furthest entry is last. When the distance from the camera to the object is within each range, the corresponding object is loaded. The Base Object setting defaults to the object the plugin is added to; however, you can dene a different one if you like.

ObjList
ObjList replaces the current object with those listed in a text le. The le is dened using a le requester that appears when you click the Options button. ObjList works much like ObjectSequence, discussed later, but the object replacement list lets you use objects in different directories or even across a network. The le must be formatted as follows: #LW Object Replacement List <replacement frame number> <replacement object le> <replacement frame number> <replacement object le> <replacement frame number> <replacement object le> The replacement object information is dened in pairs of lines. The rst line of the pair is the frame number at which the object is to be replaced. The second line of the pair is the lename of the replacement object, using a full path. For example, to sequence through a series of box objects, this list would be used: #LW Object Replacement List 0 c:\ Newtek\ Objects\ terrihendrix.lwo 10 c:\ Newtek\ Objects\ lloydmaines.lwo 20 c:\ Newtek\ Objects\ willoryfarm.lwo The sequence of objects does not need to be similar copies of the same thing. You can replace the cow with a chrome teapot if you want to.

ObjectSequence
ObjectSequence replaces an object with another one at a certain frame of the animation. This replacement is like choosing Items > Replace With Object File except that it happens during the animation. ObjectSequence is to objects, what an image sequence is to images. To perform an object replacement, you must have multiple objects with names that differ only by a three-digit number. For example, if you want to change between a series of box objects, you would name the rst object box000.lwo. If you want that object replaced by a second object at frame 10, name the second object box010.lwo. This would be replaced by box027.lwo at frame 27, and so on. These objects dont need to have anything in common except their names. To use ObjectSequence, load the rst object normally. Then, select ObjectSequence as the Object Replacement plugin. All of the object les must be in the same subdirectory. Object geometry is normally created in Modeler and object animation is accomplished in Layout. However, you can also animate object geometry, that is, change the relative positioning of points in an object and thus change its shape. A simple example of this is sending a ripple through a ag, which might be a simple segmented at box. LightWaves bones feature lets you bend and distort object geometry using an object skeleton. Often the bones are set up in a hierarchy using Inverse Kinematics (IK) to help animate a complex structure, but IK can just as easily be applied to a hierarchy of objects. Geometry can also be inuenced by morphing.

Chapter 16: Object Properties To create such object sequences, you can use the Save Transformed Object command (File > Save > Save Trans Object) to save the stages of transformation for an animated object.

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Sequence of objects created using Save Transformed Object to save object in various stages of animation. Note that the location as well as the shape of the geometry is recorded.

However, if the meshing is performed rst and then bones considerably bend the object, you may get unwanted pinching in your object. In this case, Last or After Bones may work better since the conversion is not done until after the SubPatch cage is deformed. Also, if you are morphing a SubPatch object, you will want meshing to occur after morphing (using After Morphing, Last, etc.). This is because the SubPatch object is really a control-point cage. If you mesh before the morph, you are actually changing the shape of the control cage and unexpected results will likely occur. If you use a Displacement Map on a SubPatch object, you probably want the subdivision to occur before the displacement (using First, etc.). This will give the displacement more points to displace.

Using SubPatch Objects in Layout

The Subdivision Order setting controls the order in which LightWave meshes and deforms a SubPatch object (using bones, Endomorphs, Displacement Maps, etc.). This can have a huge impact on what the rendered object will look like. LightWave subdivides the SubPatch object, converting it into a polygon mesh (i.e., meshing) on the y. First is the default and should be used whenever possible since it allows any deformation to affect an object in detail. For example, you cant add displacement wrinkles to skin with Last, since the wrinkles would affect only the low-resolution cage. Moreover, choices other than First take twice as long. This is because LightWave actually does the meshing computation rst regardless, to get the undistorted point positions that are later used for surface texture mapping purposes. Thus, choices other than First require a second meshing computation.

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LightWave 9 - Layout The SubPatch levels may be set to zero. This is similar to a level of one, except that the patches are not continually remeshed, even if Subdivision Order is not set to First. In other words, a level of zero makes patches act like normal polygons, and this allows faster interaction. Note: Adaptive Pixel Subdivision (APS) is a new system of subdividing an object. With APS an object can be subdivided per polygon, by a texture, or even by pixels. It works by computing the subpatch level for each polygon, and storing those levels in a VMap.

If you need to choose one of the in-between settings, here is the order in which LightWave performs object deformations: Morphing Before-bones plugin displacements Bones Object coordinate plugin and built-in displacements Motion (scale, rotate, move) World coordinate plugin and built-in displacements

Additional Settings for Render Subpatch Level

Per Object: The classic method of having the same subdivision level for the entire mesh. Per Polygon: Sets the Subdivision level per Cage Mesh polygon independently (commonly refered to as variable subdivision) Pixels Per Polygon: Ties the amount of pixels of the output frame to the subdivision level of the cage polygons. For example, a setting of 4 means that a given polygon will have an area no larger than 4 pixels. Note: When you make an item inactive in the Scene Editor, the mesh will still remain. in the scene This is necessary for a number of reasons, plugins and other parts of LightWave may still need to reference the item. APS effectively gives the mesh a setting of 0 for a subdivision level. This is for both Catmull-Clark and subpatch subdivision.

SubPatch Display and Render Levels

SubPatch objects may be used in Layout as any other object. In Layout, the Object Properties Panel includes two settings that are important when you use SubPatch objects. The Display SubPatch Level and Render SubPatch Level settings determine the level of subdivision smoothing needed for display and rendering purposes, respectively. These values, generally, have an effect similar to Modelers Patch Divisions (General Options Panel) setting, discussed next.

Value modiers:
Numerical Input:Set the subdivision level directly Envelope Control: Animate the Subdivision level, and can also use expression, motion modiers to control the level here. Use this setting for manual control over the subdivision level, use this if you know an object will not need more geometry than a given level for a given timeframe.

Chapter 16: Object Properties Hint: When using a black and white texture, usually an Alpha Map, you will need to tell APS which values are black and white. You do this by setting the Gradient to Previous Layer and the gradient settings to the subdivision levels.

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Hint: Currently, to use the distance gradients you need to set the subdivision order to after motion. As you need world cordinates to evaluate items that are not parented to the object itself, you can only get to world coordinates after motion of the object have been applied. Treat Subpatch objects just like polygonal objects. You can use all of the normal Layout features, like bones, to animate and deform the SubPatch object.

Note: If an item is made inactive through the Scene Editor, that item will not have APS applied to it during rendering. Texture Control: Use any of the standard LW texture controls to drive subdivision(texture, procedural or gradients): Standard Gradients: Previous layer Distance to Camera, Distance to Object, X Distance to Object, Y distance to Object, Z Distance to Object APS specic gradients: Angle to Camera Z axis: Uses the angle between the position of the object/polygon in camera coordinates and the camera Z axis. 0 == object/poly in center of view, 90 == beside the camera Weight Map: Using a weightmap to control the subdivision level, an averaging method is used to get a uniform weight on a per cage polygon level. Incidence Angle: Uses the angle between the surface normal and the ray from polygon center to camera. Face Angle: Uses the angle of the polygon normal in camera coordinates. 0 == facing the camera XY plane. Projected Size: Uses the projected size of the polygon, in square meters. Basically, it calculates how big the polygon would look if it were held 1 meter away from the camera.

Meta-Primitive Display and Render Levels

The Display Metaball Resolution value represents the number of subdivisions. To get a smoother surface, increase the value. There is no limit. A companion setting, Render Metaball Resolution, controls the resolution used for rendering, which can be different.

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LightWave 9 - Layout Step 3: Activate Depth of Field in the Camera Properties Panel and adjust the Focal Distance and Lens F-Stop settings. Step 4: Add the Depth of Field Display Custom Object from the Add Custom Object drop down menu. Use the numeric options to set the Circle of Confusion setting. This setting means the size of a point that is recognized as a single point. The smaller the value, the smaller the area will be in which objects are dened as sharp.

Object Properties: Custom Objects

Depth of Field Display

The Depth of Field Display custom object is a handy tool for seeing your Focal Distance and Lens F-Stop Depth of Field settings found in the Camera Properties Panel. Anything that is located in the Focus shape will be in focus and anything outside of the Focus shape will be out of focus.

HyperVoxels Drawing (HV Custom Object)

This custom object is automatically placed in the Add Custom Object list when HyperVoxels are applied to an object. For more information see the section on Hypervoxels in Chapter 5, starting on page 97.

IK Booster
IK Booster is discussed in the IK Booster section of the documentation starting on page 282. One option of applying IK Booster is to do it here in the Add custom Objects list. The preferred way is to add it with the IK Boost tool (Modify> IK Boost).

Steps for applying the DOF Display custom object:

Step 1: Add a Null to your scene. Step 2: Parent the Null to the camera.

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Camera Mask
It is sometimes necessary to use a textured object for the background instead of using a Background Image (Effects Panel, Compositing Tab) for effects like casting shadows onto the background or when you want to move the background around. The Camera Mask custom object can be used to compute the exact Z distance needed to ll your camera view.

To use Camera Mask:

Step 1: Model a at Z-facing rectangle object with the proper aspect ratio. For example, 640 mm x 480 mm for a 4:3 aspect ratio. Apply your surface texture. Step 2: Load the object into Layout and parent it to the camera. Step 3: Add the Camera Mask custom object plugin to the object. Enter the objects size into its options dialog and then close it. You will then see a rectangle that represents the exact Z position where the object would ll the camera view. The numeric value of this magic distance is also displayed. Note that when the object is selected, the cameras mask will appear as dotted lines. Otherwise, the mask will be the masks set color. (Note: You may see OpenGL display errors when the mask is solid.) Step 5: Adjust the objects Z Position to the magic distance. The object will now ll the camera view.

Step 4: Now, adjust the Z position of the object. You will see a representation of the camera view extend from the object with your textured rectangle attached to the end. If you have a Camera Mask set on the Camera Properties Panel, it will be visible.

You might also use a background plane with parts cut out, in conjunction with a Background Image, so you can position things between the plane and Background Image. A cross (+) also appears, which marks the cameras Focal Distance setting from the Camera Properties Panel.

Effector
The Effector custom object can be used with the Effector Displacement plugin. This custom object is designed to give you better visual feedback of your effector in Layout. Note that it does not directly communicate with the related Displacement plugin, so all settings must be set manually.

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LightWave 9 - Layout the Displacement plugins panel. The arrows and dottedlines indicate the falloff area. The solid-line ball in the center is the solid core. When Effector Shape is set to Plane, the effector will look like a four-sided plane. The Axis settings will become available, and you can then set them accordingly. The other settings have no effect in this mode.

It has two modes to match the shape of the effector: Point and Plane.

Frame Rate Meter

Adding Frame Rate Meter to a null object will display frames-per-second information when you play a scene or drag the frame slider.

Object Comments
If you add a comment to a scene item using the Items Comments plugin (Utilities> Additional > Comments), you can add the Item Comment Display custom object plugin and see the comment in your viewports.

When Effector Shape is set to Point, set the Solid Core Radius and Falloff Distance to match those settings on

Chapter 16: Object Properties The Item setting determines which scene item gets its comment displayed. It does not have to be the item you add the custom object plugin to. You also have control over the text Color, density (Alpha), and Justication.

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Shape Choose the actual shape that will be displayed. Your choices are Standard (Standard Null), Box, Ball, Pyramid, Diamond, Tetra, Ring, Grid, and None. Axis Which axis the shape is facing. This is best represented with the Ring and Grid shape. Scale Size of the shape. Filled This checkbox will determine whether the shape is displayed in wire or solid. Label Places a Label for the Item Shape. Justication Label Placement with the standard choices Left, Center, Right. Draw Line To Allows you to draw a dotted line to any item in the scene. Selected Color Color the item shape will be when it is selected. Unselected Color Color the item shape will be when it is not selected. Text Color Color of the Label text. Opacity Determines how opaque the item shape will appear.

Item Shape
Item Shape lets you specify the shape and look of your custom object. This is a great way to give each null in your scene a unique identity.

Lscript and Lscript/RT

These two items will allow you to apply a Custom Object Lscript.

Level-of-Detail Mesh Renement

Adding the Level-Of-Detail Mesh Renement custom object tool allows you to independently change the display and rendering resolution of SubPatch and Meta-primitives based on their distance from the camera. This can save you rendering time when those types of objects are sometimes

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LightWave 9 - Layout In your viewport, concentric rings are displayed around the object showing the dened distance ranges.

close to the camera and sometimes far, during your animation.

From top to bottom, the entry groups must be in near-tofar order, so the furthest group is last. When the distance from the camera to the object is within each range, the corresponding Display/ Render settings are used.

Protractor
Protractor sets up a custom object you can use to measure angles. With the Shape setting you can make it a Full or Half circle. The Label option places numerical labels at set intervals. Use the Show Mark option to place a tick mark at a set angle. Use Show Range to highlight a set range.

A value of -1 disables that (display/render) parameter. It is like deactivating the Enable option for a group, but lets you control it differently for individual items in that group.

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Range Finder
Adding Range Finder to an object will display the distance in meters from the selected item in the scene. The Draw Link option will draw a dotted line between the items.

you manually dene the Control Item - you can add this custom object plugin to get the bounding box.

Null objects work best. However, if you add this to a regular object, you may want to use the Bounding Box rendering level (selected on the viewports titlebar). Otherwise, the objects surface may obscure the numeric display.

The Parent Object is the main SockMonkey object. The Pending Relationship is the related Vertex Group dened on the main interface. Once assigned, this dialog will no longer appear when you try to access the options. If not assigned to a link, adding this plugin does nothing. Find out more about SockMonkey starting on page 452.

Speedometer
Adding Speedometer to a null object allows you to measure the speed of an item in meters per second. Choose the item whose speed you wish to measure with the Item pop-up menu. Activate the World Coords option to measure the actual speed based on world coordinates. (Youll probably want to do this if the item is parented to moving item.)

Ruler
Adding Ruler to a null object provides a measurement device. You can change the length of the ruler by stretching the object along the selected Axis. The units of measure can be 1/10 of a meter or feet/inches. The Draw Numbers option controls the display of the numbers.

SockMonkey
The SockMonkey custom object plugin draws bounding boxes for links created in the main SockMonkey displacement plugin. However, if you use the Auto-add Control Item button on the main interface, this custom object plugin is automatically added to the created control item, so you dont need to worry about adding this manually. If instead, you use the Add Relationship option - where

The Max Speed setting determines the value when the pointer is pegged all the way to the right. Select AutoRange to have the plugin determine the maximum. Note that the pointer can go past the maximum if the speed exceeds it.

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LightWave 9 - Layout NOTE: ShowCurve was designed to be used with the CurveConform displacement plugin.

Motion Capture Preview

This custom object plugin can be used to preview BioVision motion data. The preview is fast and accurate. Use it to determine if there were any errors in the motion conversion. Simply add the MotionCapturePreview custom object to a null object on the Object Properties Panel. (If you run the MoCap_BVH_Setup generic Layout plugin, a null called MotionCapturePreviewNull will automatically be added to the scene with the custom object plugin already applied.)

Sliders
Sliders (Modify> Sliders) are slider gadgets that are displayed over viewports. An individual slider is tied to a specic animation channel. A slider will indicate the current value of a channel and also let you interactively adjust that channel value.

To congure your sliders:

Open the Sliders custom object settings dialog from the Object Properties Panel.

ShowCurve
ShowCurve displays an object curve in Layout normally curve objects are a Modeling tool and cannot be seen in Layout. (If there is more than one curve in the object, the rst curve is used.)

The color of the curve can be adjusted using the Curve Color setting on the Options Panel. The Draw Cage option, when active, displays the cage of the curve by connecting the vertices with dashed lines in a color of your choice. The Draw Points option, when active, adds arrowheads to each of the vertices to indicate the direction of the curve.

The left window (Channels List) will list all of the channels in the scene. To attach a slider to a channel, simply select the channel in the left window and click Add Channel. Selected channels in the right window can be removed with the Remove Channel button. The Range Min and Range Max settings dene the interactive range of the slider. The underlying channel can go beyond these values, but the sliders range of control

Chapter 16: Object Properties and feedback will be limited to this range. If the underlying channel goes outside of the range, the slider value will turn red. Clicking on the slider handle will immediately change the channel to the sliders corresponding value. The description Label will default to the channel name, but you may edit that if you desire. You can also set the color used for the slider with the Color preset pop-up menu or specic RGB values.

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Object Properties: Deform Tab

VRML97 Custom Object

The VRML97 custom object can be applied to an object to make its VRML attributes visible in Layout. It will display URLs, the Proximity-Sensor bounding box, LOD ranges, sound nodes, and links to alternate triggers.

Morph Targets
Metamorphosing, or Morphing, causes a 3D metamorphosis from one object into the shape of another object. Morphing requires a minimum of two objects: a beginning object and a target object. These controls are on the Deformations Tab of the Object Properties Panel.

To be able to morph successfully between objects, the number of points and their order must be identical. NOTE: Using Endomorph objects simplies the process by keeping all target data within a single object le. This guarantees the same number of points and helps to maintain point order.

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LightWave 9 - Layout which add color and texture to object surfaces. However, instead of affecting the way an objects surface looks, Displacement Maps move the points in an object, which changes its shape. The change can be subtle or dramatic, making it look like a totally different object.

When you enter a Morph Amount, the object will be transformed by that percentage into the Morph Target object. However, you will almost always animate the amount of morphing over time using a standard LightWave envelope to control the morphing of an objects shape, surface colors, or both, during an animation. NOTE: If you use an envelope, the Morph Amount will have no effect on the result.

The Morph Target is the destination object (the object that the current object will morph into). The target object itself can have its own target and you may create a chain of up to forty targets. (Any number of objects may be morphing within a scene.) With Morph Surfaces you can cause the surface attributes (color, texture, etc.) of the rst object in a morph chain to convert to the surface attributes of the second object. Even if additional objects are morphing, only the rst and second objects may use Morph Surfaces.

Multiple Target/Single Envelope

To morph a single object through a chain of multiple targets using only one envelope, you can use the Multi Target/ Single Env option.The morph chain should be set so that object A has target B, object B has target C, object C has target D, and so on. Once that is set up a morph value from 0 to 100 morphs the A object into the B object. Morph values from 101 to 200 will morph object A into object C. Values of 201 to 300 will morph to D, and so on. NOTE: Multi Target/Single Env with surface morphing will reect only a surface change during the rst morph.

Left: Without Displacement, Right: With Displacement

NOTE: Remember that Displacement Mapping is saved in the scene le not in the object le. If you want to load an object with its Displacement Map information, choose File > Load > Load Items From Scene. You can easily make blowing curtains, rippling water surfaces, and bumpy terrain by applying a Displacement Map to an object. Although the objects points move around, the polygon relationships remain and, thus, surfacing information follows the displaced polygons.

Displacement Maps
Displacement Maps are similar to Surface Maps,

Differences from Surface Textures

For the most part, textures for Displacement Maps are set up in the same way as textures for surfaces. You will,

Chapter 16: Object Properties however, notice a few differences. One difference is that 3D textures (i.e., procedural and gradients) have an option that lets you select the Displacement Axis.

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Step 3: Click the Displacement Map Texture button on the Deformations Tab. When the Texture Editor appears, change the default Layer Type to Procedural Texture. Select Turbulence as the Procedural Type and set the Displacement Axis to Z since we want the ag to move along that axis.

You can also factor the effect you would normally get from an Image Map displacement using the Texture Amplitude setting. Use a value less than 1 to lessen the effect or more than 1 to increase it.

Step 4: Study the effect of the Displacement Map on the object. Interesting, but a little too exaggerated. Essentially, the size and amount of the displacement is out of proportion for our object. Its like dropping a boulder into a padding pool. What we really need is a small stone.

Exercise: Displacement Map

Step 1: Create a plane with about 23 segments in both directions at a size of about 400 mm high and 1m wide and load it into Layout.

Step 5: Go back to the Texture Editor and change the Texture Value to .2. This will reduce the general amount of displacement. Step 6: Now, this object is only about 400 mm wide. To get smaller ripples, change the textures Scale to 500mm for all axes.

Step 2: Press P to open the Object Properties Panel.

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LightWave 9 - Layout textures Position, which is the center of the texture. Click on the Envelope button for the X position eld.

Step 9: The Graph Editor will appear. Select only the Position X for the texture and add a key at frame 60 (the last frame in the scene) with a value of about 2m. (You may need to adjust the graph zoom a little. Just drag on the magnifying glass icon.)

This tones down the wave in the object.

Step 7: Click the Play button in the lower right corner of the main interface. The display updates automatically and we get better feedback as we animate the texture. (Note: the ag doesnt move yet.) NOTE: If you dont see anything, stop playback and choose Display > Options: Display Options to open the Display Options Tab of the Preferences Panel. Make sure the Bounding Box Threshold is at least 5000 (a little more than the number of polygons in the object). Start Play again. Step 8: You can animate the wave by animating the

if your scene is still playing, you should see your ag waving. We are moving the texture two meters over 60 frames. Step 10: Now of course, if this were a real ag, it would be attached to a pole and the left side would not wave as much as the right. We can simulate this by moving the center of the texture and applying falloff to the effect. Set the textures Falloff to X = 100%. This sets the amount to reduce the displacement per default unit, which should be one meter (General Options Tab of the Preferences Panel). Now, the effect is in full force at its center and reduced 100% at one meter from the center (the left edge, since the ag is 1 meter wide). If you want a little more movement towards the left side of the ag, reduce the Falloff value.

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Displacement Mapped Objects

Generally, when you construct objects in Modeler, you try to minimise the number of polygons that are used. However, if you know you will use the object with a Displacement Map, you may need to subdivide certain or all areas of an object into a greater number of polygons to create more bendable areas. All polygons should also be triangles. Displacement Mapping can cause four-plus sided polygons to become non-planar, which may result in rendering errors.

Step 11: The ag is one meter wide, but its local Origin is at its center you could gure this out by looking at it in Modeler or where it loads by default in Layout. Thus, the right edge is at 500mm. This should be the starting point for the textures X Position. Back in the Graph Editor, switch to the Move Mode and drag the rst key (at frame 0) up. As you drag, look at the layout viewport. You should see the texture move to the right (along the X axis). Since you have falloff, as you move the key, the falloff will begin at a different point eventually the right edge of the ag and fall off completely at the left. NOTE: When you animate the Position values, the Falloff center is based on the Position at frame 0. Step 12: To add a little more variance to the wave, you could add keys to the Z position of the Displacement Map.

Displacement Mapping Versus Bump Mapping

Displacement Mapping is different from Surface Bump Mapping in that the objects geometry actually changes, where Bump Mapping fakes the change with shading. If you use an Image Map as a Displacement Map (instead of a procedural texture), pure white areas will displace an objects points 100 percent of the value of the Texture Amplitude. Pure black areas will not displace at all, and in-between values will be applied relatively. Note that the Texture Amplitude value has an enveloping option, which can animate a displacement over time. HINT: The Ripples displacement texture will not actually raise the surface, but rather it spreads the points out across the surface. If you need to create water ripples that appear to rise when you view the surface edge closely, try using the Fractal Noise texture instead. Fractal Noise will actually displace points out from the surface.

Displacement Map Order Menu

Determines the sequence of Displacement Map evaluation order: -After Morphing -Before Bones -Before Local Displacement -Before World Displacement

HINT: It is recommended to have mipmapping turned off when using displacements.

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LightWave 9 - Layout

Edit Nodes
NOTE: In order for the Displacement node to function as expected, use a Vector as the input. Otherwise you may get unexpected results. You should also use the Spot Info node with the Normal output.

When checked on, you can use the Node Editor to displace your object.. When you open the Node Editor you will notice a new node, Displacement, and this is the hook for your displacements.

Examples of Displacement Node:

You can also import displacement maps from other programs, such as ZBrush, with the node editor.

Top: Nondisplaced ball; Bottom, Displaced ball

Top: Nondisplaced object; Bottom: Displaced object

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Example of Node Editor with Displacement Map

Bump Displacement is great because it creates actual geometry deformations from bump shading. (Remember, bump shading by itself does not affect the geometry.) The result is better looking bump contours, shading, and shadows. Note: In the image above, there is a subtract node, then a multiply node. Subtract - In LightWave black is usually used as no displacement and white as full displacement, but ZBrush is different. ZBrush uses black as a negative displacement (displace in the opposite direction of white), mid grey as no displacement, and grey as full displacement. To do this subtract 0.5 so that instead of the image going from 0 to 0.5 to 1, it goes from -0.5 to 0 to 0.5. Multiply - Instead of making the image go from -0.5 to 0 to 0.5, we would really prefer it to go from -1 to 1, so multiply the image by 2. However this node also has the added bonus on controling how far we want to displace the vertices, especially because we will displacing them by a default distance of 1 meter! This feature is especially good on SubPatch objects because their detailed geometry allows the displacement to more closely match the bumps and surface contours, particularly when Render SubPatch Level (Object Properties) is set to high values.

Bump Displacement Order Menu

Determines the sequence of Bump Displacement evaluation order: -After Morphing -Before Bones -Before Local Displacement -Before World Displacement

Bump Displacement
The Bump Displacement option uses the bump texture on a polygon and vertex, and applies it as a displacement texture. The direction of the displacement is set by the vertex normal, and the amount of displacement is set by the Dist value.

Add Displacement
Use the Add Displacement pop-up menu on the Deform Tab of the Object Properties Panel to apply a displacement plugin to the current object.

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LightWave 9 - Layout

Sasquatch Lite
Sasquatch Lite is, the hair and bre tool inside of LightWave. There are two kinds of SasLite effects: fur and long hair. Fur is simple, but limited in scope. Long Hair is more controllable, since you make guide chains (2-point polys) to tell it where to go, but it takes a lot more setup time. Rendering SasLite is a two step process, no matter which kind of bres you pick, because its really a separate rendering. It uses its own render engine which is applied to the LightWave render as a Pixel Filter. Well go into that below, but be sure you dont skip that step, or you wont be able to render any bres at all. Well cover Fur rst. SasLite applies its fur effects to surfaces; no maps of any kind are required. This lacks subtlety, but it does have one advantage; you dont have to UV Map your models. But you do have to plan ahead when you are making them, and tailor them to SasLite. If you dont want fur to completely cover your model, you can easily accomplish that by choosing the area where you want the bres to grow, and giving them a different surface name. Then, in SasLite, you can specify which surfaces bres will grow on.

Select the scalp polys, and give them a Hair surface name. As you do this, you need to be aware that the fur effect wont stop cold at the edge of the surface; it will leak out a

Chapter 16: Object Properties bit into the surfaces that bound it. How much it leaks out depends on how long the bres are, the Clump Size, and so on. The longer you grow them, or the larger the clumps, the more bres will begin in non-bre surfaces. So, if you know you are going to have short fur, youll want to choose polys that are close to the desired hairline. If you are choosing longer fur, and you have the polys to work with, move back from it just a bit.

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Fur thats too long obscures the features and bow. (Note fur-less shadows.) There are other built-in limits, too. For instance, SasLite will not put fur or hair on objects with more than 25,001 points. (SasLite will warn you if you overrun the limit when it attempts to add the Pixel Filter, and fails.) If you are using subpatches in the object SasLite is objecting to, try reducing the Render SubPatch level. Notice the long hairs growing from the Trolls face! (Density and Coarseness have also been changed, to compensate for the change in Length.) Secondly, the bres grow right out of the surface that you have chosen for fur, without paying any attention to surrounding geometry surfaces. So, if part of your model is resting on a surface thats getting bres, theyll grow straight through it. The work-arounds are to use short enough bres so that the interference is minimal, or to put geometry with non-fur-bearing surfaces behind those parts. If you want to use an object with more points, cut and copy the polys for the wig, beard, back hair, or whatever you want to use, and put them in a child layer. Make them 1% or so smaller than the original, so the hair will grow out through the original, not oat over it. Then, in Layout, set the SasLite Displacement on the Fur/Hair layer.

This DAZ model has too many points to use SasLite; but a separate Scalp layer makes it possible.

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LightWave 9 - Layout your item.) Choose the Deform Tab in the Object Properties dialog, click on the Add Displacement button and choose SasLite from the list. Double click on the name to open the Options Panel.

You will also nd that you are limited to no more than 8 separate instances of fur or hair in a scene. If you need more, youll have to make several renders, and then composite them in Post. Since the calculations for each surface will result in identical bres every time that surface is rendered, this isnt as difcult as it sounds, even if two furbearing surfaces are in contact with each other. Simply render the middle fur when you render each end. Then in your Post program draw the mask right through the middle surface. Everything will match perfectly.

Its easy to match surfaces if you render the middle one, as I did for many of these illustrations. It also helps that the bres show up perfectly in the Alpha channel; so you can make the underlying surfaces transparent in Alpha, and easily isolate the bre effects.

Choose SasLite from the Add Displacement menu of the Deform Tab in the Object Properties dialog. That will open the SasLite Options dialog.

Fur and Hair are perfectly rendered in the Alpha Channel. The actual effect is applied to the model in Layout. To do this, go to Object Properties (click on the Objects button at the bottom of the screen, then click on Item Properties button, and choose the object you want to apply the effect to from the list: or just hit Shift + O then P and then choose

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youll have to type the name of the surface into the Surface Name(s) Checkbox. Be warned; there is no drop down list, and once this dialog is open you cant move it or do anything else until you close it; so youll have to remember what you called the surfaces. (Or open the Surface Editor before you open this dialog, so you can see them.)

The SasLite Options Dialog Box

The rst thing in the panel is a group of radio buttons that allow you to add fur to all surfaces, only to named surfaces, to all but named surfaces, or to make long hair using guide chains. (They look like checkboxes; but choosing one disables any others.)

Type in the Name of the surface you want covered with bres. Because of this, its probably best to get in the habit of calling them all with variations of the same name; for instance HeadHair, ToeHair, BackHair etc. Separate the names with commas when you type them in, or use the asterisk (*) wild card character to catch all the combinations at once. For instance, *Hair would put fur on all the surfaces named above. ( It is case sensitive) If you look carefully, youll see a fraction above that text eld. That shows you the number of surfaces SasLite is going to apply this effect to, over the total number of surfaces in the object. Its good to get in the habit of checking it, just to make sure that you havent misspelled something. If SasLite doesnt nd a surface name you typed, it will just skip it. So, for instance, if you forgot to type the asterisk in the example above, the fraction would show 0/12 surfaces, not 3/12. Getting in the habit of checking can save time.

Choose the one you want to use; they are self-explanatory. If you choose anything except Apply fur to all surfaces,

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LightWave 9 - Layout Choose a color. It generally works best if the color you choose is brighter than you actually want the bres to be. Between the lowered diffuse needed for glossy hair, the white highlights, self-shadowing, etc. youre likely to nd the hair looks darker and less saturated than the color you picked. Click on the swatch to open the color picker for your system, and pick a color. Now we come to the list of percentages.

Check this fraction; it will tell you how many surfaces are getting the effect. Below that is a color swatch, so you can choose the bre color. There can be only one; but if you really need two or more, you can add other instances. Just dont give them exactly the same parameters, or the bres will overlap and be invisible. (There is no random seed in SasLite.) If that does not work, simply add another set of polys, and put the second fur on them. It will grow through both, of course. The rest of the dialog is percentages of various attributes. The rst thing you need to understand is that many of these percentages inuence the others. For instance, longer bres are automatically coarser and so appear denser than shorter ones. So, if you like the coarseness and density of your bres, but want them longer, you cant just change the length and get the effect youre after. You need to also reduce the coarseness and increase the density to compensate for the increased length. By how much is dependent on the size of your model and its complexity. Youll just have to play with it until you get a feel for it (Fortunately, thats not as hard as it sounds.) The bright side of this interdependence is that, if you get a setting you like, its going to look about the same on all the

Chapter 16: Object Properties models you apply it to, no matter what size they are. This is because the smaller models will automatically have the shorter, ner hair they need to get just the same effect as the larger ones. It just takes some getting used to. So, that being said, lets take a look at the options. First is Bright & Hue Vary. This setting makes up for the single color available in SasLite by allowing you to specify a percentage variation in the Hue and Value of your bres. Its fairly self-explanatory; but you do need to remember that the Saturation doesnt vary at all. If you need varying degrees of Saturation, youll have to use multiple instances (and change the values in some of the elds so the bres arent superimposed in the render.) You might also want to know that even 100% variation doesnt really give you all the hues in the spectrum; only about half of them. So, for instance, if you choose yellow for the bre color, 100% Brightness and Hue variation will give you bres that are various shades of yellow, green, orange, and red; but not blue or purple.

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Specular, of course, gives you brighter highlights, just as it does in LightWave itself. The higher the number, the more white highlight is applied to the bres; so, naturally, lower numbers give color that looks deeper and more saturated. Like anything else, its a tradeoff. This value can exceed 100% as well.

Variations in Specular Value

Glossiness makes the highlights more concentrated, so the bres appear to be shinier. Because of this, the control will be disabled if the Specular value is 0%. The lower the value, the more diffuse the highlight, the more matte the bres will appear to be, and the lighter the color looks. The higher the value, the sharper the highlights, and the more the color appears to be the one you chose. This can go over 100% as well.

Variations in Bright & Hue Value

Variations in Gloss Value

The next option is Diffuse value. This works just the way it does in the rest of LightWave. The higher the value, the more the lights in your scene will affect the bres. Decreasing this value will make the highlights on the bres appear brighter, but will also make the colors look darker and less saturated. This is one of the percentages that you can push way past 100%, if you need the bres to be more reactive to light.

Variations in Diffuse Value

Coarseness allows you to decide how thick the individual bres are going to be. This lets you make them ne enough for velvet or a collie dog, or thick enough for grass stems. As mentioned earlier, its dependent on the length of the bres, as well as on the size of the model you are growing the bres on. Be careful; low values (ne bres) can dramatically increase render time. You are better off starting with the highest value you think you can get away with, and lowering it if necessary. You should also be aware that the ner the bres are, the less dense they appear; so if you are decreasing the Coarseness, youll want to increase the density to maintain the same apparent coverage, and vice versa. You can push the Coarseness value to 400%.

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Variations in Coarseness Value

Variations in Fur Density Value

Frizz bends the bres at all angles. (Its more totally wild than frizz.) The amount applied to each bre clump, and to a lesser extent to the bres within each clump, varies a bit, so theyll look more realistic. The direction of the bends also varies; so high values can make the bres look like an extreme case of bed head.

The other thing you have to understand about Density (and Length) is that these percentages are not linear. So, if you choose 50% of these effects, thats not twice as much as 25%; its closer to four times as much. Its easiest to see this in the Length eld (on the right) because you are given a hard number as well as a percentage. If you try it, youll nd that if 1% is, say, .06 mm, then 25% will be 40.34 mm; 50% will be 161.38 mm; 75% will be 363.10 mm, and so on. What it means is that the higher the numbers in these elds, the greater the difference will be if you increase the number. The difference between 10% and 15% in the above example is only 8.06 mm. But the difference between 70% and 75% is 46.8 mm. Bear that in mind as you choose percentages, and you wont have to make nearly as many test renders. Length determines the length of the longest bres - once again, its variable. It also determines the coarseness, the apparent density, and how far they spread from the surface. All of this is clearly visible in the image shown here. Notice how much longer the long bres are below the surface, as well. These are all plain single polys; but this might be important if you are growing hair on a thin surface. Also notice the curve in the progression. (There are bres growing on the 10% surface; but they are just too short, ne, and sparse to see.)

Variations in Frizz Value

Clump Size determines how wide a clump of bres will be. (The number of bres in the clump is determined by the Clumping control, on the other side of the panel. If the Clumping is 0%, Clump Size is disabled.) As you can see from the image, it also is one of the things that determines how far from the surface the effect will spread. If you have a large Clump Size, SasLite will get the bres to make it so, even if it has to pull them from thin air!

Variations in Clump Size Value

Fur Density determines how thick the bres will grow on the surface. Once again, its interdependent with length and with the size of your model. Higher percentages yield more bres, and lower ones less. High values also add to render time, so its a good idea to use the lowest number that gives you decent coverage. Density can be pushed to 250%.

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Drooping determines how much the bres droop towards the negative Y axis. Higher values droop more than lower ones.

Variations in Combing Value, showing the X and -Y axes. Variations in Drooping Value

Clumping determines how many bres will be in a clump. Once again, this appears to be internally variable. In other words, the clumps wont be uniform; which is good, of course. The higher the value, the more the hairs are gathered together, and so the more room there appears to be between clumps.

In the bottom right hand corner of the Dialog Box, youll nd two tiny buttons labeled L and S. Those are to Load saved parameters, and to Save those parameters in the rst place. When you click on them, youll get a normal browser for your system that lets you Save a le and Load les you have previously saved.

Variations in Clumping Value

Comb X, Y or Z slants the bres towards the models own X, Y or Z axis (not the axes of the world, so the appearance of combed models isnt affected by rotation in Layout.) However, it wont do this if the normals of the polys the bres are growing from are too closely aligned with the axis youve chosen; so be aware of that when you try to use it. Also, of course, it matters whether you choose positive or negative values here. To comb the bres downwards, for instance, use a negative percentage in the Comb Y eld. (These three are the only elds that will accept negative percentages.)

Buttons to Load and Save parameters, and to Cancel changes.

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When you Save a set of parameters, you are allowed to choose both a name and an extension for it. On a Mac, you can safely ignore the extension. On a PC, you might want to choose .txt, since these are really just text les with lists of the parameters and values chosen. If you open one in a text editor, theyre quite clear; you can edit them by hand if you are so inclined. When you load one, all the parameters are loaded, including whether you want bres on all surfaces, only named surfaces, etc., and the name of the named surfaces if you are using them. Yet another good reason to be consistent when naming surfaces you intend to use bres on! You can click on Cancel if you decide not to change the parameters after all. The OK button, which allows to accept the changes and return to Layout, is in the lower left corner. Unlike some of the Worley dialogs, you move from one eld to another by tapping the Enter key. If you dont tap it, SasLite wont keep the value. This is consistent with the other requesters and dialogs in LightWave. As mentioned before, you can put up to eight instances of SasLite, or eight different sets of fur and hair parameters, in a single scene. Besides allowing you to have different types of bres on different objects in the scene, this allows you to get some very interesting effects by putting different bres on the same object. For instance, you can easily make a fur with a soft, dense undercoat and long silky top bres, as seen on this troll.

Its easy to make complex fur using multiple instance of SasLite on the same object.

Once you have all that set up, you need to tell Layout to render the bres. As mentioned before, all the bre rendering takes place in Sasquatch Lites own render engine, and is applied to the nished LightWave render as a Pixel Filter. So you need to open the Image Processing dialog (type Ctrl+F8 or choose Window > Image Processing in LightWave 8) and choose SasLite from the Pixel Filter drop down menu.

Chapter 16: Object Properties Double click on its name in the list to open the Sasquatch Lite dialog for the Pixel Filter.

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your image between the realism of seeing enough of those bres to believe they are all there, and the time it would take to actually calculate them all. The next option allows the bres to receive LightWave Shadows. This can add to the realism of your scene, but you need to be aware that only shadows cast by Spotlights will be used. This is because SasLite uses Shadow Maps to render the shadows. It makes these itself, whether the spotlights are set for Shadow Maps or Raytraced Shadows. So, when you are setting up a render with SasLite, it pays to tighten the beam of the spotlight so you dont waste any of the map, just as you would normally when using Shadow Maps.

The Sasquatch Lite Pixel Filter Options Dialog

The rst option is the Antialiasing Level, which is completely independent of Layouts antialiasing. (It will work even if you have AA turned off for normal renders, so be careful. If you dont want to take the time to AA the bres, you have to turn it off here, not there.) The default number is 2, which is probably right for most uses. Below that is a checkbox for One-pass antialiasing mode. If its checked, SasLite will only calculate the bres once, and then just reapply them after each antialiasing pass the LightWave render engine performs. This can save a lot of time, since SasLite will just make exactly the same calculations, with exactly the same results, each time. Leave it checked since SasLite calculations may take several minutes. If you have One-Pass antialiasing checked, though, fur will not receive any motion blur, which LightWave calculates by making multiple passes.. Render Backside Fibers allows you to render bres on surfaces not facing the camera. This becomes important when you are rendering bres that go around a curved surface, like someones head. In real life, you can see the bres that extend beyond the curve. SasLite allows you to choose how many of those to render, so you can balance
Receive Shadows enabled and disabled.

Self Shadowing allows the bres to cast shadows on themselves. However, it doesnt allow the bres to cast shadows on other surfaces that use SasLite, so its not a good way to get bre shadows on other objects (If you want that, you really need to get the full version of Sasquatch). If this is disabled, the bres will appear to be much lighter. Also, if this control is disabled, and Receive Shadows is enabled, its possible to get strange terminator lines on your fur where the shadows occur, as shown near the trolls face in this illustration.

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LightWave 9 - Layout can choose not to render them. (The bres will render, even though the chains are set to Unseen by Camera or 100% dissolve.) The poly chains are quite easy to make; you can either make points, and then connect them or use Rail Extrude on a 1-point poly. You may have heard that the root point of the poly chain must be named root. but you can actually name it LeftScalp, or HindLegRoot or George. It just has to be a different name than the rest of the chain. It also doesnt have to be a point. You can grow your chain right out of the scalp, if you are so inclined! Also, you need to bear in mind that the hair that SasLite grows will always be shorter than the hair guide you are making. How much shorter depends on the number and distribution of the points in the guide. The more there are close to the end (away from the root,) the longer (and thicker) the hair will be. But SasLite wont render anything beyond 30 polys. It wont warn you, it just wont render. So, if your hair is much shorter than you expected, you might want to count those polys. (Just select one guide chain, and check the Polygon Statistics)

You can choose whether to have the bres cast shadows on themselves or not.

The nal control, Cast Shadows From, tells SasLite whether to cast self-shadows from All Spotlights, or only those which have shadows enabled (LightWave Shadow Spots.) This control has no effect on the ability of the bres to receive LightWave shadows (thats determined by the Shadow setting for the Light in question) and is disabled if Self Shadowing is not checked. Generally, you can leave it at LightWave Shadow Spots, because every light calculation adds some time; but you may want to change it to All Spotlights if you feel you need more denition in the bres (and you are using some spotlights with shadows disabled.). Weve now covered fur in detail; but what if you want your character to have long, owing, styled tresses instead of an unruly mop or a buzz-cut? In that case, you have to use Long Hair Guides. Setting them up isnt difcult, (although it can be tedious.) All you have to remember are a few rules. 1. Long hair guides are 2-point poly chains. 2. The end the hair is growing from must be attached to a surface with a different name. 3. The guide chains should be on their own layer(s) so you

Chapter 16: Object Properties The length of the bres is dependent on the points in the guide chain. Constructing the chains is really Modeling, so we will just gloss over it here. We will use a variation of the method shown by Mike Green at http://www.newtek.com/products/lightwave/tutorials/ modeling/saslite/. Basically, you need to copy most of the head into another layer, freeze it, and kill the polys (k). This will give you a cap of points to work with. You then need to delete all the points that fall outside the hairline, and youre ready to extrude.

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Use curves to dene the hairs on the outside of the group.

Then you need to put that layer in the background, the Root Polys layer in the foreground, copy the Root Polys to the clipboard, and Rail Extrude the hairs. That should give you a thick bunch of hair guides You can give them whatever surface you want for that part of the hair by pasting the Root Polys back in, and Merge Points (M) making sure that Keep 1 Point Polys is checked.

Freezing the scalp and killing the polys yields a nice set of hair roots.

Taking a section of the head at a time, depending on the hairstyle, you can copy a group of the points into a new layer, use Points to Polys to make them into 1-point polygons, and give them the root surface. In a different layer, you can make curves where you want the hairs on the edges of this group to lie, using all 3 dimensions, and as many curves as it takes. (Usually 2 or 3, but sometimes more.)

The result of using Rail Extrude.

If this method doesnt give you the expected results, you can select a row of points from the Point Scalp layer, copy and paste them into a new layer, make a curve, and clone a single hair along that curve using Rail Clone (Multiply > Duplicate > Rail Clone) You can then adjust each hair if necessary. This will take a lot longer, but also allows more control. If necessary, you can use various Modify tools to tweak the hairs so they look just the way you want.

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LightWave 9 - Layout Youll have to use a surface name, so that SasLite can tell which is the other surface, where the hair growth starts. Once again, you can use asterisks as wild cards, it is case sensitive and if you check the dim green fraction, you can see if you remembered the name (It will indicate the number of surfaces the effect will be applied to out of the number in that object.) The column of options on the left works exactly the same way as before. Choose the Fiber Color, the Bright & Hue Vary, the amount of Diffuse, Specular, Glossiness, etc. If youve played with Fur, this will all be familiar to you. On the right though, youll nd that most of the column is dimmed, and there are two new options. The rst is Lock Width. This option tells SasLite how much room each group of hairs will take around each of the Guide Chains you constructed. It doesnt put more bres there; it just spreads them out or collects them more tightly.

This elaborate hairstyle used several surfaces, and two layers of Hair Guides (to stay within the 25,001 point limit.) Its ready to render. Begin the same way you do for Fur; that is, open the Object Properties, and apply the SasLite Displacement from the Deform Tab. Double click to open the Options, and youll see the very same dialog as before. But this time, click the Make long hair using guide chains radio box.

Variations in Clump Size Value when using Guide Chains.

Once you have all of that set up, go to the Render Tab of the Object Properties, and check Unseen by Camera. You dont want to render the guide chains, just the hair!

Sasquatch Lite options when using Guide Chains.

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If you use Shadow Maps, you can render shadows of the Guide Chains. Be aware when you are rendering, whether you are using Fur or Long Hair that the bres are more light-sensitive than you might think. Also, although they will only make shadows (either self-shadowing or received shadows) from spotlights, they are affected by all the lights in the scene; and you cannot exclude them from a light, even if you exclude the guide chains. Fortunately, you can decrease the Diffuse value of the bres if this is a real problem. In addition, dont forget that SasLite is a Pixel Filter. That means that, besides not casting shadows, the bres wont show up in reections, or appear behind transparent surfaces. If you need any of those effects, plan to do them in Post. With a little practice, youll be able to use Saslite to enhance your pictures. If you like SasLite, youll love the full version which allows you to vary the length of fur bres using maps, use maps to change the fur colors, render guide chains with any number of segments, allow the bres themselves to cast shadows, and much, much more.

Dont forget to make the Guide Chains Unseen by Camera! Rendering works in the same way. In fact both Fur and Hair use the same Pixel Filter, and you can use both of them on the same object if you like. (The limit, of course, is 8 instances total, mix and match!) SasLite bres dont cast shadows on anything, as previously mentioned. But the guide chains will, if you are using Shadow Maps, and leave Unseen by Rays unchecked. This can be either good or bad. Sometimes, shadows are nice; but since the guides are longer (and fewer) than the bres, they can be annoying and distracting. As always, its up to you!

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LightWave 9 - Layout The Auto-Range button can be used to rescan the mesh and set the range based on the bounds of the currently selected axis. The curve object is set on the Curve pop-up. If there is more than one curve in the object, the rst curve is used. The Flip option reverses the inuence direction of the curve. World Coordinates leaves the curves position xed in 3D space, deforming only that part of the mesh that moves into its range. Stretch alters the mapping of the range to the curves arc length (the length of the curve), so that the entire range exactly ts into the length of the curve. This can cause stretching or compression of the mesh along its axis. When Align is enabled, the vertices are rotated, as well as translated, so the meshs thickness along the axis is preserved, like a bend operation. This mode maps the range directly to the curve, so the Flip option has the effect of ipping the mesh, but leaving the basic shape the same. The Curve Inuence percentage blends the deformed shape with the original un-deformed shape Show Curve (Custom Object) displays an object curve in Layoutnormally curve objects are a modeling tool and cannot be seen in Layout. (If there is more than one curve in the object, the rst curve is used.)

Object Properties: Displacement Plugins

Curve Conform
Curve Conform uses a curve object to deform an objects mesh. In order to determine what part of the curve applies to what part of the mesh, you must dene an axis and a range of distances along that axis. The axis is the direction in the mesh, which will be transformed to lie along the curve. The Range Start and Range End values dene where the beginning and end of the curve match up with the selected Axis.

FX_Hardlink
FX_Hardlink is a very powerful tool that allows you to use the dynamic motion from one object and apply it to another. In most cases the dynamic object contains very few polygons (2-point polygons) while the HardLink object has a higher polygon count. In the example below, Cloth Dynamics is applied to a 2point polygon chain made up of (x4) 2-point polygons. It is the parent of a single layered object that is made up of four monkeys. When you use FX_Hardlink, the monkeys take on the motion of the 2-point polygon chain.

When Curve Conform is rst added, it scans the mesh to compute a bounding box. The range and axis are set to match the longest side of this bounding box.

Chapter 16: Object Properties Hardlink keeps the geometry rigid and will displace it based on the Piece Mode setting. In the example below, Cloth Dynamics is applied to a 2point polygon chain made up of (x4) 2-point polygons. It is the parent of a single layered object that is made up of 4 monkeys. When you use FX_Hardlink, the monkeys take on the motion of the 2- point polygon chain. Hardlink keeps the geometry rigid and will displace it based on the Piece Mode setting.

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FX_Hardlink Properties

Under the Basic Tab you can choose what Piece Mode you would like to use. Polygon treats each segment as its own object. 1 Piece will make the entire object a solid and considers it one piece. Point Set will read selection sets that you could create in Modeler. The Edit FX Tab allows you to change what pieces are linked to what nodes. This is handy if the tool doesnt quite link what you thought it would on complex objects.

NOTE: The HardLink Object must be parented to the Dynamic object in order for FX_Hardlink to work.

NOTE: For more information on dynamics see the Dynamics Section later on in this chapter starting on page 469.

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LightWave 9 - Layout The Smoothing option attempts to smooth the reshaping of the Metalink object. If unchecked, the reshaping can pass through the vertex of the cage object (dynamic Object).

FX_MetaLink
FX_Metalink is a very powerful tool that allows you to use the dynamic motion from one object and apply it to another. In most cases the dynamic object contains very few polygons (2-point polygons) while the MetaLink object has a higher polygon count. NOTE: You may run into problems if the Dynamic Object is too rough. Subdividing the Dynamic Object may help. In the example below, a 2-point polygon chain with Cloth dynamics applied to it is the parent of the Worm (MetaLink Object). The Work takes on the dynamic motion of the 2-point polygon chain with zero calculation time.

NOTE: If you want to use other Displacement Maps and not have them be ignored by MetaLink also apply Metalink_Morph.

FX Metalink Morph
FX_Metalink_Morph is a displacement plugin that enhances the functions of FX_Metalink. By itself, FX_ Metalink cannot use normal morphing information because it ignores bones, Morph Mapping, and Displacement Maps. However, if you use FX_Metalink with FX_Metalink _Morph, you can use normal morphing data. NOTE: The FX_Metalink _Morph plugin can be added before or after FX_Metalink. FX_Metalink _Morph has one pop-up menu called Morph Mode. Set this to One time morph to execute morphing only one time. This mode is appropriate when the morphing is from Morph Mapping. Use Every time morph to execute morphing for each displacement process. This mode is appropriate when the morphing varies, like the Displacement Map of waves. The Non morph setting simply disables this plugin.

NOTE: The MetaLink Object must be parented to the Dynamic object in order for FX_Metalink to work.

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HyperVoxels Particles
The HyperVoxels Particles Displacement plugin lets you set the base color for a HyperVoxels particle to the color of the Vertex Color Map, if one exists. You can also set the particle weight using a Weight Vmap.

Joint Morph Plus

Joint Morph Plus drives an Endomorph based on the angle of a bone. This displacement function replaces the common, but cumbersome, use of Morph Mixer in combination with an expression or plugin to control the morph channel based on a bone angle. This would allow you to, say, bend an arm using bones, but also control a Morph Map that might bulge muscles.

NOTE: These options are only available when HyperVoxels have been applied to an object.

JointMorph
JointMorph is a legacy plugin replaced by JointMorph Plus detailed afterwards. Usage is pretty similar, so if you nd yourself working on a scene using JointMorph, you should have no trouble adapting.

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The rst three entries dene the object you are using the bones from, the bone and its axis that control the morphing. Usually the object will be (self) i.e. the object you are attaching to this plugin, but sometimes it makes sense to have the Endomorph controlled by another object s bones (e.g. if you have a high resolution object and a low resolution proxy). The next two entries dene what kind of morph is used if the control bone is below (Angle < Min) or above (Angle > Max) the dened range. If these options are set to (base), the base model (i.e. no morphing) will be used, otherwise the lowest (Min Morph) value or the highest (Max Morph) value will be used. The next (up to ve) values dene the range of the morphs. Every entry (make sure to activate the checkboxes at the left) denes a morph at a given angle. The values can be in any order, but make sure that you also dene the angle for the base model (usually this angle will be at zero degrees). If you dene multiple morphs for one angle, only the rst entry will be considered. The percentage entry scales the morph, usually this entry will be set to 100%. Rotate the control bone now and you will see the effect of the morphing. If the angle of the control bone matches exactly a dened position, the corresponding morph will be used, otherwise the plugin will interpolate between two morphs.

Deform Displacement Plugins

The Deform Displacement plugins let you deform objects much like Modelers Flex and Deform tools. Each needs two null objects to operate.

Deform:Bend
The Effect Base object denes the start of the bending point along the selected Axis. The Effect Handle object determines the direction of the bending.

NOTE: Nulls used in image are using Item Shape instead of the standard Null Shape.

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Deform:Pole
The Effect Center is the center of the effect and scaling it will distort the geometry. The Effect Corner denes the corner of the inuenced area. Use the sliders to shape the inuence area.

Deform:Shear
The setup for Deform:Shear is nearly the same as Deform: Bend. You can also control how the effect is applied from the base to the handle by using the two tension sliders. The top slider controls the beginning and the bottom one controls the end. Use the Preset pop-up to select from some common settings.

NOTE: Nulls used in image are using Item Shape instead of the standard Null Shape. NOTE: Nulls used in image are using Item Shape instead of the standard Null Shape.

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Deform:Taper
Deform:Taper works just like Deform:Shear, except that you size the handle instead of moving it.

Deform:Twist
Deform:Twist works just like Deform:Shear, except that you rotate the handle instead of moving it. The center of the twisting is dened by the base object.

NOTE: Nulls used in image are using Item Shape instead of the standard Null Shape.

NOTE: Nulls used in image are using Item Shape instead of the standard Null Shape.

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Deform:Vortex
The Effect Center is the center of the effect and rotating it around the selected Axis will distort the geometry. As such, if you select the X axis, you rotate the objects pitch; for Y, you rotate heading; and for Z, you rotate bank. The Effect Corner denes the corner of the inuenced area. Use the sliders to shape the inuence area.

Displacement Texture
Use Displacement Texture to use a texture as a Displacement Map. Youre probably thinking that you can already do this with the Displacement Map function. However, using the plugin lets you order the deformation when you use multiple displacement plugins. For example, Dynamics totally overrides any effect the Displacement Map function has. With Displacement Texture, you could place it after the Dynamics.

Effector
Effector causes effector objects to repel or attract the points of the affected object. The effector objects may be any objects you wish, but Null objects work best.

The Effector Object(s) Prex is a name prex with the default of Effector, and any object that begins with this name will be an effector. This lets you have more than one effector based simply on their name. Solid Core Radius denes a spherical area, within which all points are equally affected. There is a gradual falloff of the effect between the Solid Core Radius and Falloff Distance. Points outside the Falloff Distance are not affected at all. You can also choose the Effector Shape: it can be a Point or Plane. If it is a Plane, you need to specify the Axis. Plane can make an impenetrable plane that begins at the negative side of the axis based on the effector position (like

NOTE: Nulls used in image are using Item Shape instead of the standard Null Shape.

HINT: Add Deform:Vortex three times using a different Axis setting on each to have full rotational inuence.

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keeping feet squashed against the oor). Falloff Distance and Solid Core Radius will have no effect. The impact of the effector object is set and animated by keyframing its XYZ Size channels. Positive values repel and negative values attract.

LW_HVRealFlow_import: Legacy Tool

Legacy plugin for using RealFlow data. New importers have been written for using RealFlow with LightWave that ship with RealFlow. NOTE: Unless you have RealFlow, you will never really have a reason to use this plug-in.

LW_HyperVoxel_Particles: Legacy Tool

This is a Legacy plugin for older scenes that used HyperVoxels with tools like RealFlow.

Inertia Expression
Expression is a sister plugin to the Expression channel modier. You use it in the same way. Inertia creates lazy points. It will delay the point positions in an object, and cause them to catch up over a period of time.

You can set independent expressions for the XYZ point displacements using the Channel pop-up menu. Some global options are available that are not on the channel modier version. The After Bones option will cause the displacement to occur after bone displacement. With World Coordinates checked, the XYZ variables in the expression are in world space, not local space.

Lag Rate (s/m) is the amount of delay (in seconds) for points that are one meter away from the pivot point of the object points closer or farther will be adjusted accordingly. If you had the pivot point for the cow object at the tip of her nose and moved her forward, her nose would move with the pivot point; however, the rest of her would be delayed. If you set Lag Rate to 1, then the portion of the cow that is one meter from her nose would be one second behind.

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NormalDisplacement
NormalDisplacement can displace each vertex either along its normal or using Morph Maps. NormalDisplacement differs from regular displacement in that with regular displacement, the direction is xed by you (or texture). With NormalDisplacement, the displacement is set by the geometry, an effect similar to using Smooth Shift in Modeler. Normally, the objects movement triggers the effect; however, you can point at a different object instead by using Inertia Pivot Object. Then, the object doesnt even need to move to get the effect. Inertia Pivot Object replaces the items pivot point, and becomes the center from which the inertia acts. Points farther away from this center have a larger delay in their animation they are delayed by a time equal to the distance multiplied by the Lag Rate. Activating Local Pivot uses the pivot points local coordinates rather than world coordinates. You can also specify a Weight Map. Zero weighting will result in no delay for those points. Using 100% is the same as not using a Weight Map on those points. NOTE: A vertexs normal direction is the average of the polygon normals it is connected to.

Lscript and Lscript/RT

These two items will allow you to apply an Lscript.

Morph Mixer
Use the Morph Mixer Displacement plugin to animate using Endomorphs. NOTE: See Morph Mixer Section, later in this chapter and starting on page 458, for more information.

An image of normal displacement would be very helpful in describing the tools use. The Displacement Amplitude sets the amount of displacement. Displacement Direction lets you choose whether the direction of the displacement is along the vertex Normals or using Morph Maps. The Texture button brings up the Texture Editor, where you can add a texture (like in a regular displacement texture). If you are displacing along Morph Maps, set the MorphMap pop-up menu to the target Morph Map. The Detail Attenuation option reduces the displacement

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LightWave 9 - Layout A cool trick would be to use a gradient texture with Distance to Camera or Distance to Object set as the Input Parameter. The gradient could just be a ramp from 100 percent to 0 percent. Then, you can cause a morph to occur based on the distance to the object or camera.

in highly detailed areas, preventing the geometry from intersecting itself. This is accomplished by weighting each displacement by the neighboring polygons area, so vertices in small polygon areas are displaced less than in large polygon areas. You can adjust this weighting with the Attenuation Bias parameter. A bias of 0 percent will attenuate most polygons and 100 percent will affect only very small polygons. The Cache Normals option causes the normals to be calculated only once. These results are used for later evaluations, making the evaluations much faster. This option is recommended for solid objects, but not for objects that are being deformed (e.g., with bones). NOTE: If you are network rendering, Cache Normals will not work since the scene is unloaded and reloaded for each new frame. Instead of using Cache Normals for a solid object that does not change over time, freeze the deformed shape with the Save Transformed command, save it under a new name, and use the new object in place of the old.

Serpent

NOTE: Play your scene while tweaking the settings to get real-time feedback. Remember that textures are three-dimensional and generally have different values for any point in 3D space (assuming your texture is something dynamic, like Turbulence). The value of the texture at each vertex acts as a multiplier against the Displacement Amplitude value. So if a texture was at 50 percent for a particular vertex and the Displacement Amplitude was 500mm, that vertex would be displaced 250mm (500mm x 50 percent). Each vertex would have its own evaluation. Because each vertex gets its own texture value, when using Morph Maps, the amount of morphing is usually different for each vertex. If the texture is animated, you will see the amount of morphing change over time.

Serpent is a displacement plugin that deforms an object so that it hugs its path. The object is expected to travel along some axis of alignment.

Alignment Axis sets the axis along which the object will be aligned. The Start Frame and End Frame parameters turn the deformation on and off at those frames, respectively. Object deformation is usually not pretty when the object

Chapter 16: Object Properties slides past the Start Frame and End Frame. To get around this glitch, give the object a nice straight lead-in, possibly with a linear keyframe. The length of this segment should be about the length the object extends past its center (0,0,0 in Modeler). Also, let the motion path and end frame extend beyond the end of your intended animation, or end with a nice straight segment along the Alignment Axis. Dont make the bends in the curve too sharp relative to the thickness and subdivision level of the object. Serpent is computationally intensive. Using the following steps will maximise your efforts: Step 1: Set up the motion path (i.e. keyframes) before applying the plugin to the object. Step 2: Apply the plugin to a low-polygon-count stand-in object and rene your Scene. Step 3: Use Items > Replace > Replace With Object File to replace the stand-in object with the nished version. NOTE: Serpent does not work well with Align To Path controllers (Motion Options Panel) activated for the object.

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Basic SockMonkey Setup:

Step 1: Create an object in Modeler using selection sets or Weight Maps. These will dene the regions of the mesh to be deformed (e.g., chest, upper arm, lower arm, hand, etc.). Using Weight Maps lets you vary the inuence based on the vertex weighting. Step 2: Load the object into Layout and add the SockMonkey displacement plug.

Sock Monkey
Sock Monkey is an animation plugin that uses scene items typically null objects to deform an objects mesh. You can deform an object like it is a puppet. Sock Monkey parallels bones in many respects. You may want to use it if it matches your animation style. One big difference, however, from using bones is that the control objects are external to the object.

Step 3: Open the SockMonkey Options Panel. On the Relationship Setup Tab, set Vertex Group Types to the type you used in step 1.

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Step 4: Click the Auto Setup Object button. Control items (objects) will be added to the scene and a relationship with each vertex group will be set up.

To manually add a control item, select the selection set or Weight Map from the Vertex Group pop-up menu. Then, click the Auto-Add Control Item button. If the item already exists in the scene, select it from the Control Item pop-up menu and click the Add Relationship button. Instead of using Auto-Add Control Item, which creates the control items, Auto Assoc. w/Existing will add relationships to existing scene items. Just make sure the scene items have the same name as the groups before running. In other words, if you have a Weight Map called Shoulder, you must have, say, a null object called Shoulder. Note that this operation will not position the scene items like Auto-Add Control Item does. NOTE: Control items dont have to be null objects, although this is usually the case. They can be lights or even cameras.

Control Item Tab

The settings on the Control Item Tab affect the selected group in the list. Use Rotation will cause the control items rotation to inuence the group. When using Weight Maps, youll probably want to activate Use Weight Values so the weighting of vertices will affect inuence. Like bones, control items have rest positions that provide the starting point of their inuence. To change a control items rest position, activate the Edit Rest Position option, move the item and then deactivate the option.

(If you are using Weight Maps, select each group and activate the Use Weight Values option (Control Item Tab).)

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Display Options
Use the settings on the Display Options Tab to change how (or if) the group bounding box is displayed in viewports.

Batch Operations

Use the Display Bounding Box option to toggle the bounding box on and off. Choose a Line Pattern for the bounding box.

Use Enable All Relationships and Disable All Relationships to activate or deactivate all of the group/ control item relationships. The Edit All Rest Positions option allows you to edit the rest position for all control items. The Remove Relationship button removes the group/ control item relationship for the selected group. You can also remove all relationships in one step using the Remove All Relationships.

Lazy Points
Left to Right: Solid, Dotted

Lazy Points alters time for the points of an object it affects. When the Lazy Points Plugin is active for an object, the further an objects points are from its center, the longer it takes them to move, rotate, size and stretch.

Motion Designer Displacement Plugins: Legacy Plugins

Left to Right: Dash, Dash-Dot

Choose a preset color from the Line Color drop down menu or pick a Custom Color for the bounding box.

NOTE: These Plugins were designed to work with Motion Designer and have become Legacy tools. MD_Plug is the Displacement Map plugin that applies the motion data (MDD le) to the object in Layout.

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LightWave 9 - Layout lets you create the animation, and lets you completely separate the object for animation and the object for rendering. For example, you might use this to add buttons on a dress after the MD calculation.

NOTE: MD_Plug is automatically added to the Target when you click the Activate button on the MD Property, Objects Tab. It is removed if Deactivate is clicked. As such, you will normally not need to add or adjust this plugin manually.

Setting Options
Double-click MD_Plug after it has been added on the Deformations Tab of the Object Properties Panel to display its Options Panel. The MDD Filename eld species the Targets MDD le. The Action Start eld indicates the time (in seconds) at which the motions from the MDD le should start. This lets you delay the start of the effect. The End Behavior setting determines what happens after the motion nishes. Stop holds the last state. Repeat repeats the motion from the beginning. Use Composite if you wish to stack multiple instances of MD_Plug and add the motions together. If Key-Move is ON, keyframed motion is applied along with the MD displacement motion. Since the motion data created with Motion Designer (including MD_Scan) contains displacement of shapes using the keyframes, setting this ON can cause a doubling up of the keyframed motion. To prevent this problem, set Key-Move to OFF. NOTE: When using MD with other displacement plugins (which should be loaded after MD) be sure Key-Move is ON. Motion Designer ignores any plugins loaded above MD_Plug.

Setting Options
Specify the target MDD le in the MDD Filename eld. The details include the number of MDD frames, recorded time, and the number of points on the plugin button. Verify the information. Specify the object used for the calculation of the MDD le as Cage Object. This object should be made up of triangles and quads. The smooth reshaping is executed based on the lattice by polygons. NOTE: You may run into problems if the Cage Object is too rough. Subdividing the Cage Object may help. In the ActionStart eld, specify the time (in seconds) at which motions based on the MDD should start. Use the EndBehavior pop-up menu to specify what happens at the end of the motion based on the MDD. Stop maintains the last state, Repeat repeats the motion, and Composite plays back the MDD le successively. Key-Move is used to specify whether or not to displace the shape using the standard keyframe. Since the MDD already contains displacement information, setting Key-Move to ON can duplicate the displacement of shapes. As such, you will usually set this to OFF. However, this will also disable any movement in Layout. The Smoothing option attempts to smooth the reshaping. If unchecked, the reshaping will pass through the vertex of the Cage Object.

MD_MetaPlug
MD_MetaPlug is a Displacement Map plugin for extending MD_Plug and applying a MDD le to the object in Layout without restricting the shape or the number of points. This

Chapter 16: Object Properties Activate Disable to turn the plugin off without losing your settings. be saved.

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MD_MetaPlug_Morph
MD_MetaPlug_Morph is a displacement plugin that enhances the functions of MD_MetaPlug. By itself, MD_ MetaPlug cannot use normal morphing information because it ignores bones, Morph Mapping, and Displacement Maps. However, if you use MD_Plug with MD_MetaPlug_ Morph, you can use normal morphing data with Motion Designer. The MD_MetaPlug_Morph plugin can be added before or after MD_Plug. Make sure MD_Plugs Key-Move is set to OFF. MD_MetaPlug_Morph has one pop-up menu called Morph Mode. Set this to One time morph to execute morphing only one time. This mode is appropriate when the morphing is from Morph Mapping. Use Every time morph to execute morphing for each displacement process. This mode is appropriate when the morphing varies, like the Displacement Map of waves. The Non morph setting simply disables this plugin. NOTE: Using MD_Metaplug_Morph is CPU intensive, so be sure to select the appropriate Morph Mode.

Specify the frame where you want to begin recording in the First Frame eld and the frame you want to end recording in the Last Frame eld. Specify the number of frames for which data should be saved in the MDD le in the Frame Rate eld. Data for skipped frames is automatically interpolated. Increasing this number can reduce the data size when you save motions that are long but relatively slow. Scanned Frame displays the fetched frame. NOTE: When you use MD_Scan with other Displacement Map plugins, be sure to add MD_Scan last.

To use MD_Scan:
Step 1: Add MD_Scan to the Deformations Tab of the Object Properties Panel for the object whose motion you wish to incorporate. Step 2: Double-click the added plugin to open its Options Panel. Step 3: Dene the desired MDD lename and set the parameters. Click OK. Step 4: Click OK for the next dialog that appears. Step 5: Make a preview animation. Step 6: Open the MD_Scan Options Panel again. This time a different version of the panel will appear. Click OK to save the MDD le data. Step 7: Remove MD_Scan or deactivate it. Step 8: Load the le into MD_Plug.

MD_Scan
MD_Scan is a Displacement Map plugin that incorporates motion data from Layout into Motion Designer. MD_Scan can handle motions, such as those of bones affected by Displacement Map plugins. The resulting data becomes an MDD le to be used with the main Motion Designer plugin. The MDD Filename eld species the MDD lename. Scan Points displays the number of points in the object to

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Math Morph
This tool allows you to affect an items geometry by entering explicit equations for each of that items position components, X,Y and Z. The equations may use some of the current values of the items animation channels.

Spline Control
The Spline Control tool (Modify>Spline Control) is a simple way to animate hoses, tentacles, etc. using a spline with control handles. For more information see the Spline Control section earlier in this chapter, starting on page xxx.

Steamy Particles: Legacy Tool

Steamy Particles is a legacy tool used on older scene les that used Steamer.

Trail: Particle Trail Metamation: Metaform Shaper and MetaformTarget Legacy Tools
Metamation was designed to make organic and naturallooking character animation easier. It lets you work with an object with a lower polygon count to set up your animation. This object can be manipulated with bones or other deformation tools and is smoothed by metaforming, just before rendering. NOTE: These tools have been made obsolete since LightWave 6.0 and are included only to work with older scene les. This script produces a simplistic particle effect, similar to a reworks sparkler. If you apply it to an object made up of single-point polygons , as the object moves, the script will displace individual points in a repeating motion to simulate a sparkler effect.

Object Displacement: Morph Mixer

Using LightWaves Vertex Map feature, all of your morph targets can be wrapped up neatly into a single object, with point-offset information. This type of object is called an Endomorph and the targets are referred to as Morph Maps. Another advantage of Endomorphs is that a morphed pose can be a mixture of multiple targets. With normal object morphing, discussed previously, you are limited to the morphed states between the beginning and target objects only.

Morph Gizmo Render: Legacy Tool

This tool allows you to render old LightWave 5.0 scenes that used Morph Gizmo. Morph Gizmo has been replaced with Morph Mixer.

Saslite
Sasquatch Lite is LightWaves hair and bre tool. For more information see the Sasquatch Lite section earlier in this chapter, starting on page 428.

Chapter 16: Object Properties Whats more, animating an Endomorph is simple because you just keyframe your poses using the Morph Mixer Displacement plugin.

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Managing Groups
You can move a morph from one group to another by simply dragging it to the desired group.

Morph Mixer: Morph List

The Morph List will display all of the Endomorphs that have been created for the object. If no groups were created in Modeler they will all appear in one group. To have predened groups use the group naming convention when creating your morphs. NOTE: Placing a (.) after the rst part of the name creates a new group. Its suggested that you name your morph using the group. pose format; like Eyes.Open or Mouth.Smile. Morph Group Example: To create a group called Eyes all of your eye morph targets should be named Eyes.Name of-Morph. NOTE: Deleting a group that contains morphs will place those morphs in the previos group in the list. Also, deleting a group doesnt delete it from the object. Clicking the Graph Editor button in the Morph Mixer Panel will launch the Graph Editor with all the morphs channels in the channel list that appear in the Morph Slider area. The Reset Group button will set all the morph sliders in the Morph Slider Area back to 0%.

Create a new group using the New Group button. This allows you to re-organize your morphs without having to return to modeler. Use the Rename Group button to give any of the morph groups a new name. You also have the option to remove groups with the Delete Group button.

NOTE: For more information about Endomorphs see the Endomorphs section at the end of the Map tab chapter in the Modeler part of the manual, starting on page 923.

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Morph Mixer Options

Morph Slider Area

The Morph Slider Area is where you will do all your animating of the individual morphs.

Morph Mixer gives you the ability to save and load grouping information using the Save/Load Grouping Data commands. Use the Save/Load Endomorph Mix to reuse your morph animation data. Morph Mixer has three View Modes to choose from. These modes will determine what morph sliders will appear in the Morph Slider Area. Normal Will display all the Morphs from the Current group. Display all morphs as one group Every morph in the object will be displayed and treated as one group. Display Active Morphs Only Only morphs that have been animated will be displayed. Use the Set Slider Range setting to set the Low/High (min/ max) values for all sliders. Morph Name Name of morph for the Slider Bank. Morph Slider Slider used to interactively change the morph value. Morph Value Value of the current morph. You can manually enter in a value without using the slider. Previous Keyframe This button will skip to the previous keyframe in the animation. KeyFrame Displays Keyframe off and on. Left click on K button creates key for the morph. Left click on K button removes key if current frame has a keyframe for the morph.

Individual Slider Banks

Chapter 16: Object Properties Shift+ Left Click on K button keys all morphs in active group (respects view modes) at current value. Shift+ Left Click on K button removes keys on all morphs in active group (respects view modes) if the current frame has a keyframe. Ctrl+Left click on K button resets individual slider to zero and creates key. NOTE: Keyframes are always automatically created when the slider is adjusted. Next Keyframe This button will skip to the next keyframe in the animation. Envelope This will launch the Graph Editor with the morph channel selected.

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Object Properties: Render Tab

Clip Mapping
The Clip Mapping function, located on the Rendering Tab of the Object Properties Panel, offers a way to quickly alter an object. Basically, it allows you to cut away portions of an object using a texture. This is a great way of creating 2D pop-ups, as well as holes, tears, or grids in objects without having to model them.

Left: Flat Plane Object, Right: Clip Map Image

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LightWave 9 - Layout There is one important distinction between a Clip Map and normal texturing options: there is no partial clip. The information in the Clip Map either cuts the relevant area away or leaves it intact. HINT: If you need a partial-clip effect, try using a Surface Transparency Map instead. If an image is used as a Clip Map, any value of 50% luminance (brightness) or higher will clip the corresponding part of the object, while a value below 50% will not. Using Procedural Textures works similarly, except LightWave calculates the image data instead of providing it in a picture. A two-color image will give you the most control over the results of a Clip Map.

Rendered Image

Like Displacement Maps, Clip Maps are also saved as part of the scene le and not as part of the object. In order to load an object and its Clip Map, use File > Load > Load Items From Scene. HINT: Place a clip-mapped at polygon outside the camera view to fake shadows through grids, trees, or a window, using Shadow Maps. Use this where a shadow-mapped light source doesnt result in the correct shadow due to features like a transparent surface.

Object Cloned Several Times

Matte Object Option

A Matte Object option has been added to the Render Tab. It causes an object to be rendered in a single user-specied color (usually black or white) with no shading, overriding all of the objects surfaces.

Alpha Channel Options

On the Matte Object section of the Render Tab panel there is also an Alpha Channel pop-up. You can choose from the following:

Army of Dorks with Cute Anime Girls

Chapter 16: Object Properties Use Surface Settings uses the surface settings of the object to determine the objects effect on the Alpha Channel; Unaffected by Object to have the Alpha Channel be unaffected by the Object (essentially an Unseen by Alpha option); Constant Black the object is black as far as the Alpha Channel is concerned.

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NOTE: The appropriate Properties Panel will appear based on the current edit mode (Objects, Bones, Lights, or Cameras) when you press the P key or click the Item Properties button.

Distance Dissolve
Activating Distance Dissolve lets you automatically dissolve the current object out after it has moved a certain distance from the camera. The Max Dist value determines the distance at which the object should be totally dissolved. The dissolve is gradual, thus the object will have some amount of dissolve any time it is between the camera and the Max Dist. HINT: Underwater particles and moving stars often benet from Distance Dissolve.

Object Dissolve
Entering a value for Object Dissolve on the Rendering Tab of the Object Properties Panel will cause LightWave to render the object in a semi-dissolved state. If you enter 100 percent, LightWave will not render it at all. Since the value supports envelopes, you can change the dissolve amount over time. For example, you may wish to slowly dissolve clouds in on a rainy day, or replace one object with another by dissolving them in and out in the same frame.

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Unseen By Rays
Selecting Unseen by Rays for an object tells LightWave to ignore the object in its ray-tracing calculations when reection and refraction are involved. This means that the object will not appear in the reections or refraction of another object. It will, however, render normally in the scene. This is especially handy for objects that are front projection-mapped; you probably do not wish them to show up in the reections within other objects. Unseen by Rays will not affect the shadow options of a given object.

Unseen By Camera
An alternative to making an object 100-percent dissolved is to activate Unseen by Camera. This makes the object invisible to the camera when you render; however, you will still be able to see it and work with it in the Layout window. Although the camera wont see these objects, lights will. You can use this option to cast fake shadows into your scene from off-screen objects, like window pane frames.

Unaffected By Fog
Objects that have Unaffected by Fog selected will be excluded from the fog effect. Also, the fog Level setting, to the right of the Unaffected by Fog option, will let you apply an amount less than or greater than normal. Normal is 100%.

Left: Normal Render, Right: Unseen Clay Sculpture

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Object Shadow Options

If a light has shadows enabled, any objects illuminated by it will generally cast shadows on themselves or onto other objects. However, you have complete control over this. LightWave lets you decide exactly which shadow options an object should employ. For example, you may wish for some objects not to cast shadows and others not to receive shadows. By default, all shadow options are on.

Deactivate Self Shadow if you do not want or need an object to cast shadows on itself. An egg is a good example of an object that cannot cast shadows on itself. A tree on the other hand is a prime candidate for Self Shadow.

Self Shadow Inactive

All Shadow Options Active

Do not confuse Self Shadow with shading. An egg under a solitary light source may be shaded so that one side is darker, but this is shading and not casting a shadow on itself. Deactivate Cast Shadow if you do not want an object to cast a shadow onto other objects. A spaceship orbiting a planet would be a good example of an object that usually should not cast a shadow.

Judicious use of the Self Shadow, Cast Shadow, and Receive Shadow options (Rendering Tab) for the objects in your scene can greatly speed up rendering times for both ray-traced and shadow-mapped lights.

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Object Properties: Edges Tab

Polygon Edges
Normally, the actual edges of polygons do not appear in a rendered image. However, in some instances you may want the edges to show. The polygons themselves are still rendered with all surface characteristics, and outlines are added. Edge Color sets the color of visible polygon edges. For example, you might want the nished animation to be done in wireframe with respect for hidden lines. (To see the full outline, use the Render Outlines on the Surface Editors Advanced Tab. LightWave also lets you add a cel look to your rendered images, like the look you see in cartoons. Polygon and surface edges are broken down into edge types that you can activate independently. You may also dene a pixel width. You have great control over how cellook objects are outlined.

Cast Shadow and Self Shadow Options Inactive

Deactivate Receive Shadow if you do not wish an object to receive shadows from other objects. In the spaceship orbiting a planet scenario, perhaps a better option would be to turn off Receive Shadow for the planet as opposed to turning off Cast Shadow for the spaceship. You may want the spaceship to cast shadows onto nearby asteroids or other ships. Shadow options apply whether LightWave is using raytraced shadows or Shadow Maps. However, when you use Shadow Maps and you do not wish an object to receive a shadow, you need to deactivate both Receive Shadow and Self Shadow. Likewise, for an object that you do not wish to cast a shadow-mapped shadow, deactivate Cast Shadow and Self Shadow.

Silhouette Edges Selected

Receive Shadows and HyperVoxels

Currently, plugins do not have access to all lighting information. As a result, HyperVoxels, for example, will continue to receive shadows, even if the Receive Shadows option is disabled.

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Unshared Edges Selected Other Edges Selected

Sharp Creases Selected

All Edges Selected

NOTE: For the images above, a box was made with the bottom cut out, then a new ap was put on at the top. The front side of the box was given a different surface name. Silhouette Edges: When one polygons normal faces towards the camera and shares an edge with another that is facing away from the camera, this is where the Silhouette Edge appears, along the line where the surface begins to move away from the camera.

Surface Borders Selected

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Silhouette Edges appear on a shared edge between two polygons, where one polygons normal faces towards the camera and the other polygon normal faces away from the camera. Silhouette Edges mark those edges that dene where the surface turns away from the camera. Because Silhouette Edges depend on one surface normal facing away from the camera, they will never appear on doublesided surfaces, where all of the surface normals face the camera at all times.

2) Any surface that has Smoothing checked will have only its unSmoothed edges count as Sharp Creases. This means that the Smoothing Angle of the surface controls the number of Sharp Creases on your surface. Sharp Creases that fall under #1 and #2 are easily spotted in OpenGL. These edges are not smoothed over with the Phong shading in OpenGL, and are easily visible as unSmoothed, or sharp edges. Category #3 is different, but necessary for doublesided surfaces: 3) Sharp Creases act as Silhouette Edges on double-sided surfaces. Silhouette Edges will never appear on a double-sided surface, where the normals of the surface face the camera at all times. Sharp Creases ll in the void, and mark the edges that dene the point at which the surface turns away from the camera. Surface Borders happen when two polygons with different surface names share the same edge. The edge marks the _border_ between two polygons with two different surface names. And -- on a side note -- the surface properties can be identical, but if the surface names are different, then the shared edge that borders both polygons is marked as a Surface Border. Other Edges are for every other edge that does not t into the other four categories: Silhouette Edges, Unshared Edges, Sharp Creases and Surface Borders.

Silhouette Edges share a real-world counterpart in life drawing, where a line denes where the surface turns away from the viewer. Unshared Edges mark each edge that only belongs to one polygon. A single polygon oating in space will have all of its edges marked as Unshared Edges, because each of those polygons edges only belong to one polygon. If you were to take a polygon and Knife it down the middle, splitting it into two, all of its outer edges would count as Unshared Edges. The Knife-edge down the middle belongs to both polygons (since the polygons still share points), and would not be considered as an Unshared Edge. A solid volume with no overlapping points, such as a ball or box, will never have Unshared Edges, because all of its edges are shared. However, if you were to select a polygon on that volume, and cut-and-paste it to separate it from its brothers...you would create Unshared Edges around that selected polygon. Sharp Creases serves three functions: 1) Any surface that does not have Smoothing checked will have all of its edges marked as Sharp Creases.

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HINT: To create a solid-wireframe animation, use the same Surface Color (Surface Editor) as the Backdrop Color (Effects Panel) and select all Edges with a contrasting Edge Color. Also, Edges are unaffected by Fog, so if you want a quick Alpha for the Edges, you can make the Edges white and ll the scene with a solid black Fog. That will give you an Alpha. Edges can also get smaller as they move away from the Camera by activating the Shrink Edges with Distance option. The Nominal Distance setting determines the arbitrary distance from the Camera at which the edges are at their dened width. As the object gets farther away, the edges will get smaller. Edge Z Scale When pixels of a polygon edge are rendered, they will have depths that are approximately equal to those of the polygon that they belong to. This means that some of the pixels will be visible while others will be hidden, which could result in broken-looking edges. To prevent this, LightWave multiplies polygonedge depth (i.e. Z buffer) values by a scaling factor, the Edge Z Scale, which is, by default, slightly less than one to ensure that the edges are always drawn on top of their polygons. The default value, .998, should work in nearly all cases. However, in certain circumstances, like camera zoom factors that are extremely high, you may need to adjust this value. However, if the value is too high (i.e., too close to 1.0), the edges start to submerge into the polygon and break up. On the other hand, if the scale factor is too low, the edges will come in toward the camera too much and may even start to appear in front of other polygons that they should be behind. If either of these problems occurs, adjust the Z scale in the appropriate direction; otherwise, leave it alone.

NOTE: It is unlikely Edge Z Scale values outside the range of .95 to 1.0 would ever be necessary.

Object Properties: Lights Tab

Object Exclusions
You can exclude any set of lights, as well as radiosity and caustics, from the shading of any object. Simply click in the Exclude column to activate the exclusion. If for some reason you need the excluded lights to continue to cast shadows, deactivate the Shadow Exclusion option. When this global setting is not activated, all lights will cast shadows even if they are excluded. You will need to add the Shadow Exclusion command (Lights command group) to a keyboard shortcut or menu to access it. Note that adding to a menu may be preferable so you can see its current state. Use the drop down menu by right clicking to Select All, Clear All, and Invert Selection.

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Object Properties: Dynamics Tab

The Dynamics Tab of the Object Properties Panel is where you can Add Dynamics and manipulates their settings.

Add Dynamic choices:

Cloth Cloth Dynamics. Soft Soft Dynamics. Hard Hard Body (Rigid Body) Dynamics Emitter Particle or Partigon Emmiter. Wind Wind controller. Collision Collision controller. Gravity Gravity controller. Note: For more information on the Dynamics Tab, see Chapter 20: Dynamics and Physics

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Chapter 17: Previsualization

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Previsualization
There will be times, more often than not, when you will want to plan out your animations or review your progress as you are working without doing a full render. This is the role of previsualization, or previz.

Creating a Preview Animation

In addition to playing a scene using the transport controls, you can also create special preview animations. In most cases, these will give you a more accurate preview of your nal animation.

Step 4: When the preview is complete, the Preview Playback Controls Panel will appear. NOTE: You can press the ESC key to stop creating the preview animation. The animation will still be playable up to the point of termination. Heres a rundown of the Preview Playback Controls:

To Create a Preview Animation:

Step 1: If you are using multiple viewports, the top-left viewport is used for the preview, so make sure it shows the view you want. Step 2: Make sure the viewports Maximum Render Level is set as desired. Step 3: Select Make Preview from the Preview pop-up menu. A dialog will appear asking you for rst and last frame settings, as well as Step. This initially defaults to the scene settings, but may be set independently. Click OK and the preview animation will be created.

HINT: To save time creating a preview animation for a complex scene, do the Texas Two Step: use a Step of 2 and playback using a frame rate one-half the desired rate.

Preview Options
Also from the Preview pop-up menu, you can replay the preview currently in memory, free it from memory, and load/ save a preview animation le. Selecting Preview Options from the Preview pop-up menu will display a dialog.

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Layout Transport Controls

You can use the transport controls to navigate through your scene.

Here, you can select a compression level for preview animations, as well as select the format and codec used when you save them. Compressed previews use much less memory, thus you can have a lot more frames before virtual memory starts being used, which bogs down playback. Compressed preview les are also smaller when saved to disk. You can also set whether or not to use virtual memory for preview animations. Using the Make Preview Buffer option, you can choose to record the OpenGL back (offscreen) or front (on screen) display buffer. Other options may be available (e.g., Direct Draw). You may get better performance with different settings, depending on your video card. When Virtual Memory is set to Disabled, LightWave attempts to use only RAM for storage and playback. (Your operating system can still ultimately swap the data to virtual memory, however.) Setting Screen Size to Stretch to Fit causes the image to t the window, even if it is a different size than what was used when the preview was made.

Keyboard Shortcuts
There are also some keyboard shortcuts that can be used: Previous frame (Left Cursor key) Next frame (Right Cursor key) Previous keyframe (Shift + Left Cursor key) Next keyframe (Shift + Right Cursor key)

Going to a Specic Frame

If you press the F key, a dialog will appear. Enter the frame you want to go to.

Playing the Scene

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You can also play your scene backward (left arrow) or forward (right arrow) from the current frame using the playback controls. The Step eld, in the bottom-right corner, determines the frame increment. A setting of 1 will play all frames; 2 will play every other frame, and so on.

VIPER (default keyboard shortcut F7)

Enable Viper
In the Render Tab menu, you can enable VIPER by clicking on the so-named button (Render> Enable VIPER). Be sure to turn it off when you are ready for your nal render since it takes memory and processor time, slowing down your renders.VIPER stands for Versatile Interactive Preview Render and is a good way to speed up nalising your scene. It can preview volumetric lights, Sky Tracer, HyperVoxels and surfaces. In the render options window, or the Render Tab menu, you can enable VIPER by clicking on the so-named button. Be sure to turn it off when you are ready for your nal render since it takes memory and processor time, slowing down your renders.

The keyboard shortcuts for playing backwards, pause and play forwards are the PgDn, Ins and PgUp keys respectively.

NOTE: Your playback speed will vary depending on the complexity of your scene, object display mode, system capabilities and so on. Reducing the size of your Layout window can dramatically increase playback speed.

HINT: To take advantage of Play, you can modify an object in Modeler while it is animated in Layout (Note that the HUB must be activated.

Surface Preview Mode

For surface previews VIPER needs to have a data buffer to work on so you will need to render an image for it to work with. Before you hit F9, make sure you have Enable VIPER turned on in Render Options or the button in the Render Tab ! Once your render has nished you can open the VIPER window by hitting F7. When you do, hit the Render button and you will see your image take shape in front of you. If you dont have a fast machine, a Draft Mode render (at half resolution) is often enough for you to get what you want and you can always check with a full-res render as and when needed. You can also change the size of the VIPER window to get more detail, but be aware that such a change requires a new F9 render to take effect.

Motion Blur and Depth of Field Preview

Using the MB Preview button (Render> MB Preview) or pressing Shift+F9 will render an OpenGL Motion Blur Preview using the current Camera settings. The Motion Blur Preview can be used in any viewport type. Pressing Shift+F9 will render an OpenGL Depth of Field preview using the current camera. This allows you to quickly visualise the results of the Camera settings without doing a full render.

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Other Preview Modes

VIPER can be used to preview HyperVoxels, SkyTracer skies and volumetric lights. In all of these cases full-scene evaluation is not required, so you dont need to perform a render before you can use VIPER.

When LightWave renders an image, it generates much more information than the red, green, and blue components of the pixels you see in your images. The color components represent only a small fraction of the data that is generated. LightWave also generates, alpha (transparency), z-buffer (depth), luminosity, diffuse, specular, reection, shading, shadow, geometry, object, diffuse shading, specular shading, and even custom surface buffers. As a result, VIPER can determine not only what color a pixel is, but also how far back on the z-axis a pixel is, what surface it relates to, and so on. By manipulating this extra data, VIPER can change a surface color or Specularity setting and show the result amongst the rest of the scene without requiring another full frame render. This will even show the appropriate shading, scene lighting changes, as well as backdrop color changes. To select a surface in the Viper window, you can click on the part of the image containing the surface you wish to edit. Since VIPER does not do a full-scene evaluation, there are some things that are not accounted for, like Vertex Maps ( Weight, UV, etc.) on SubPatch objects, ray-traced effects (reections, refractions, shadows), Shadow Maps, fog, double-sided polygons, radiosity, light falloff, and so on. As such, it is not a replacement for an F9 render. Also, VIPER will not be affected by moving geometry.

If you render your scene rst you can preview SkyTracer in VIPER with the foreground scene elements.

There are two drop down menus that need to be explained at the top of the window: Preview Size, which dictates the size of your VIPER window and Preview Options. Preview Size allows you to dictate what sort of preview you want to work with. Be aware that in Surface Preview Mode you cannot change the Preview Size without doing another render.

Preview Options
This drop down will only display the option (none) when you are using VIPER in Surface, Volumetrics or SkyTracer Modes. If you would like to see what this menu does, try adding some HyperVoxels to your scene and then use VIPER. You will then see that the Preview Options drop down menu has three options Object, Scene and Particle. The difference is as follows:

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LightWave 9 - Layout This mode shows a close-up of a single particle. This will allow you to see an emitted particle in detail.

Object Preview

Animated Preview
When previewing HyperVoxels, skies or volumetric lights, a very powerful feature of VIPER is the ability to make a preview over time. If you click on the Make Preview button you can make an animation that can be played back within the VIPER window. This will show the object you have HyperVoxels attached to. If, for instance, you have an emitter selected, the object preview will show the whole stream of particles coming from it. The active object is selected in the HyperVoxels window.

Scene Preview

NOTE: For any of the VIPER modes, you can add a new preset to the current presets window (F8). This allows you to keep a library of useful settings for particles, skies or volumetric lighting types. The scene preview will show all HyperVoxel objects that are visible from the camera view. If you have three emitters, this mode will show all three at once, rather than just the active one.

Particle Preview

NOTE: If you have more than one object type in a scene for instance, a fountain spraying water into an afternoon sky under the watchful eye of a streetlamp and you want to be able to preview them all in VIPER, clicking on the interface for each object type Surface Editor for the fountain, HyperVoxels for the water, SkyTracer for the sky and Volumetric Options for the street lamp will switch VIPER to the appropriate mode.

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Visor

Visor shows images and renders in a Layout viewport. The images and renders are organized in panes. A pane can show one or more images and/or renders, and there can be multiple panes in multiple viewports. Panes can be arbitrarily sized from taking up very little space, to a strip along the side of a viewport, to covering an entire viewport. Visor can be used to keep reference photos conveniently available in Layout without having to open yet another window. Visor can also be used to show the last few F9 renders in a viewport without the need to have the render window open.

that sometimes other items in the scene may interfere with clicking in the pane. Clicking near the corners usually works best.

If there are multiple panes, all the panes will at rst become active. You can then click on the pane you want to work with by clicking in it again. An active pane will show six handles. Five green ones which can be dragged around to resize and reposition the pane, and a red one which moves the slider. Youll need to have add some images with the Image Editor in order for the slider to be useful.

Interacting with a pane

A pane can be activated by clicking in it or by selecting the Null to which the Visor custom object is associated. Note

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The panes can be deactivated by selecting some item in the scene. Initially you may have to do this by changing the Current Item. Afterwards Visor will keep track and return you to the last tool used and the items last selected.

Images and renders

Panes can show both images present in the Image Editor, and any F9 renders. To have an image show up in a pane, simply load the image into the Image Editor. To have renders appear in panes, the Render Display in the Render Options has to be set to the new entry called Render2Image. This new option has been added by Visor and it adds renders to the Image Editor instead of having them appear in the render display. From therethey are picked up by the Visor panes. Note: Visor can be used without using Render2Image, but F9 renders wont appear in the panes. References to images which are shown in a pane will be saved into the scene le, even if they arent used as part of the scene. However, this does NOT apply to renders. Renders will be lost if the scene is cleared (you can always access a render through the Image Editor and save any you want to keep from there). For renders, depending on how much space is available, Visor shows some helpful information about each render, for example: [8] 12/18/03 01:28:12, 23s, 12f, (640 x 480) This reads as: this is the 8th render made, at the given date and time, took 23 seconds to render, its a render of frame number 12, and was rendered at a size of 640 by 480 pixels. The date and time formats may vary depending on your locale.

The interface
The interface can be opened either by double clicking on the Visor custom object entry, or by double clicking on an active pane. As well as a button to add a new pane, there are also a set of global settings, and a bunch of settings for the currently active pane. Global settings Max number of renders Each rendering takes up memory to keep around. The number of renders Visor keeps around is limited to the given number of most recent renders. If the maximum number of renders is reached, the oldest render is deleted. Note that this does not affect mages, only renders.

Chapter17: Previzualization Default: 8 Double click time This gives the maximum amount of time (in seconds)between clicks on a pane in order for it to be registered as a double click. Double clicks on an active pane open up the Visor interface. Default: 0.5 Pane settings Remove pane Clicking this button removes the currently active pane. Viewport Sets the index of the viewport in which the current active pane is placed. Viewports are numbered from zero up to a maximum of three. 0 means the rst viewport, 1 the second, and so on. Which viewport is the rst, second, and so on depends on the viewport layout. Negative viewport numbers indicate a viewport index relative from the last viewport. So -1 means that he pane will always appear in the last viewport, -2 means the second to last, and so on. Default: -1 Show Selects if the currently active pane will show images only, renders only, or both types. Default: Images & Renders Sort Sets the sorting order between images and renders for the currently active pane. Default: Images rst Sort images by

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Sets the sorting order of the images (if there are any) for the currently active pane. If Reverse is checked, the ordering of the images is reversed. Default: Name Sort renders by Sets the sorting order of the renders (if there are any) for the currently active pane. If Reverse is checked, the ordering of the renders is reversed. Default: Index, Reverse Background color Gives the color used to ll the background of the currently active pane. If Background is checked, the background is drawn, otherwise it isnt drawn. Default: 204 204 204, Background Pane opacity Sets the opacity with which the currently active pane is drawn. The pane opacity is only used if the pane is not active. When the pane is active, it will always be drawn completely opaque. Default: 100.0%

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Chapter 18: Rigging

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LightWave 9 - Layout WARNING: If you use the Scene Editor while in Bone Edit Mode make sure you only edit the character that you had selected in Bone Edit Mode.

Rigging: Introduction
Part of preparing a scene is the rigging process. Rigging a character, or any other object, involves setting up a system of bones and applying rules and limitations to those bones. There is no one way to prepare a rig, so your rig may have different rules from someone else and still achieve the same goal. A number of tools can be applied to a rig, including all of the tools in the Setup Tab. Additional functions are available in the Motion Options Panel, where you can apply Inverse Kinematics and other rules for motion, and IK Booster, which can be used to augment normal IK, as a separate IK system, and even have dynamics applied to your rig. You can also Export and Import your rig data for use in other models.

Setup Tab
Before entering Bone Edit Mode.

General
Bone Edit Mode
Bone Edit Mode (Setup > General > Bone Edit: Enter Bone Edit Mode / Exit Bone Edit Mode) allows you to edit your character rigs quickly and easily within the scene you are creating.

Enter Bone Edit Mode (default keyboard shortcut

Shift E )

Entering bone edit mode will do a number of things to help you work on character rigs in your scene. When it is invoked it will turn off the visibility of all items in the scene except the object that you have selected and will take you to frame 0. All of the items that have been hidden will also be locked so there can be no accidental selection of another object. Enable IK will also be toggled off but can be turned back on when needed.
After entering Bone Edit Mode (note that a red border appears around the viewport).

The other character that shared the same origin has been hidden and locked.

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Exit Bone Edit Mode (default keyboard shortcut

Shift D

NOTE: It is sometimes necessary to disable IK when editing a rig.

Exiting Bone Edit Mode will restore all visibility and locked items to their original state. You will have to move to the original frame manually.

Enable Deform
(Setup>General>Enable Deform) will toggle on or off LightWaves ability to deform a mesh with bones.

Add
Bone
Setup > Add > Bone. A bone will be added with its base at the selected objects local Origin, along its positive Z axis.

Child Bone (default keyboard shortcut =)

After exiting Bone Edit Mode.

Setup > Add > Child Bone. A bone will be added with its base at the tip of the selected bone, along its positive Z axis. The new bone will be a child of the original selected bone.

NOTE: Moving the time slider from frame 0 will cause LightWave to exit Bone Edit Mode. The objects do not need to share an origin for Bone Edit Mode to work. Selecting any object in the scene and invoking Bone Edit Mode will work. But some of the Bone tools (Mirror Hierarchy) are easier to use if the character is worked on at X= 0, Z= 0.

Draw Bones
Draw Bones will allow you to draw a bone in any orthogonal viewport (This will not work in Perspective). This bone will be parented to the object. Each successive bone added will also be parented to the object. If you need to add a child bone use Add Child Bone or Draw Child Bone.

To draw a bone in a viewport:

Step 1: In any Layout orthogonal-view viewport, select the object, or existing bone if you are drawing a child bone. Step 2: Select Setup > Add > Draw Bones. (Since this is the initial bone, you can alternatively choose Draw Child Bones.) Step 3: Place your mousepointer where you want to place the base of the bone.

Bones On/Off
Turns all bones on or off.

Enable IK (default keyboard shortcut

Shift F8 )

When Enable IK (Setup>General>Enable IK) is active LightWaves IK will be applied to all items with IK set up on them.

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Step 4: Drag your mouse to create the bone.

Draw Child Bones

(Setup>Add>Draw Child Bones) allows you to draw child bones from a parent.

To use Draw Child Bones:

Step 1: Select a bone or object that you want to add a bone to. Step 2: Run Setup>Add>Draw Child Bones. Step 3: Use the LMB and draw out the bone to the length and in the direction you want. NOTE: If you want to continue adding bones just keep drawing more bones. The next bone will be added as a child to the previous bone. If you want to add a child to a different bone than the one that was just created you will have to select the bone rst.

Step 2: Select points, working from the (theoretical) base of the rst child bone to the tip of the last bone in the chain. Then choose Create >Make Curve > Make Open Curve to create an open-ended curve with your points.

Convert Skelegons
One way to create Skelegons is to create curves rst. You can then convert the curves into Skelegons, which will be placed between the curve knots (points). With Convert Skelegons, (Setup>Skelegons: Convert Skelegons) you can even use points from the object to create the curves.

To use Convert Skelegons:

Step 1: In an open Modeler layer, create points that will correspond to the bases and tips of the bones you want to eventually create. (Youll probably want the object to be boned in the background for reference.) Step 3: Repeat the previous step for all chains, if you have more than one. You can use the same point in multiple chains. Step 4: Still in Modeler, choose Setup>Skelegons: Convert Skelegons to create the Skelegon from the curves. You can edit the base/tip of the bones using

Chapter 18: Rigging standard modelling tools. The Skelegon bones will stay attached to each other.

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Modify
Joint Move (default keyboard shortcut
Ctrl J )

Joint Mover draws lines along each bone and puts a cross hair at the base of the child bone(s), which is usually coincident with the tip of the parent (but need not be). In any view, you can then click the LMB and drag the cross hairs to the new location where the tip of the parent and base of the child should be, in effect, moving the joint location between two bones. After the mouse button is lifted, hit the space bar to actually change the bones. Using the RMB will constrain the bone to move along its length. Attributes edited in LightWave will be the parents rest rotation and rest length, and the childrens rest rotation, rest position, and rest length. If you desire, you can select and delete the curve afterward. Step 5: If you want, you can optionally cut and paste the Skelegons into the layer with the normal object geometry.

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LightWave 9 - Layout NOTE: If you want to execute your edits but keep Joint Mover active just invoke Joint Mover again instead of hitting the space bar. This will move the bones and keep Joint Mover on.

If you select the object and run Joint Mover, the tool will be drawn through the entire hierarchy.

WARNING: These edits cannot be undone.

Here is a hierarchy with Joint Mover active. You can see the green cross hairs that are drawn at the joints and at the tip of the single bone at the end.

A bones tip can be moved away from the base of its child by selecting the bone you want to edit and running Joint Mover. The tool will only be active in the selected bone which is not the case when the object is selected and the tool is drawn through the whole hierarchy.

Using the LMB each one of the joints and the tip of the bone at the end has been moved (one at a time) to a new location. After all the editing is done, hitting the space bar will exit Joint Mover and move all the bones to the new locations.

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This will allow you to move the tip of the bone away from its childs base.

If you have bones whose tips have been offset, Joint Mover can still be used to edit the joints position.

After the tool is dropped (hit space bar), the bone is moved to its new position.

The tool will behave just as it does when the parents tip and its childs base are touching.

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This is the result of that edit. The spacing is maintained even with the bones in their new position.

Use the LMB and drag the common joint where you want it to be.

If multiple child bones share a joint with the same parent you can move them by selecting the object and drawing Joint Mover through the entire hierarchy. Or you can choose the bones individually.

Once the edit has been executed, the bones will be drawn in the new location still connected.

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You can choose what bones in a common joint you want to move. As long as the parent is selected, as many of its children as need be can be selected and moved.

Tip Move (default keyboard shortcut

Ctrl T

Tip Move will allow you to move an entire hierarchy by moving the tip position of the hierarchys parent bone. Attributes edited in LightWave will be the bones rest rotation, rest position, and rest length.

If you use the LMB to move the selected bones tip, its hierarchy will move along with it. Even though the parent bones angle and size change the hierarchy, it will maintain its original conguration. If the RMB is used on the selected bones tip, it will expand along its own length.

Single Bone
If a single bone is selected, Tip Move draws a line along the bone and puts a cross hair at the tip of the bone. If there is a hierarchy with a child relationship to the selected bone a yellow line is drawn through the remaining bone but there will be no cross hair at the tips. Only the tip of the selected bone will be editable.

Once you get the selected bones tip where you want it you can hit the space bar and all the bones will be moved to the correct place. Or if you want to continue using the tool just select Tip Move again. All the bones will be moved and Tip Move will stay active.

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LightWave 9 - Layout and draws representations of the three axes of the bone (in local coordinates). These drawn axes represent the right, up, and forward (x, y, and z) orientation vectors.

Entire Contiguous Hierarchy

If the object itself is selected and Tip Move is activated. The tool will be drawn through the entire contiguous hierarchy. In this mode every joint will be editable instead of just a single bone. But the same rules apply to the child/hierarchy of the tip that is being moved. Even though the parent bones angle and size change the hierarchy, it will maintain its original conguration. If the RMB is used on the selected bones tip, it will expand along its own length. Once you get the selected bones tip where you want it, you can hit the space bar and all the bones will be moved to the correct place. If you want to continue using the tool just select Tip Move again. All the bones will be moved and Tip Move will stay active.

When the LMB is held down on the yellow cross and the mouse dragged right, the drawn axes rotate in a positive direction, when the mouse is dragged left, rotation is in the negative direction. Rotation is the similar to doing a Rotate operation in LightWaves standard interface, and changing the bank angle by dragging the yellow cross in the blue circle. However, the children of the selected bone will remain in place with Bone Twist. After the mouse button is lifted, hit the space bar to actually change the selected bones bank angle, or invoke the Bone Twist tool again to have the rotation of the bone occur with the tool remaining active.

Bone Twist (default keyboard shortcut

Ctrl K )

Bone Twist allows you to change the bank rotation of a bone while leaving children of that bone unaffected. If no bones are selected, the tool will allow you to go bone to bone and adjust each bones bank. When invoked, this tool draws a circle around the base of the selected bone in blue,

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Scale Hierarchy will allow you to scale a hierarchy up or down. This can help you when you import an existing hierarchy into a new mesh or if you are reusing pieces of your rig in another part of your object.

Select the object to scale the entire bone structure. If you want to only scale a section, select the parent bone of that particular hierarchy. You can also choose to scale targets and goals along with the bones. NOTE: Depending on the conguration of the hierarchy you may have to adjust the target and goal positions manually.

Selecting a bone and running Bone Twist will allow you to edit the bone selected and that bone only. Selecting the object containing the bones and running Bone Twist will allow you to edit all bones contained in the object. The reason for this is to give you the ability to isolate a bone that may be difcult to see when all bones have the tool active.

Scale Hierarchy

Selecting the parent bone of a hierarchy will allow you to scale just that part if needed. Use the LMB to make coarse changes and the RMB to make ne changes.

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To use Align Pitch:

Step 1: Select the child bone whose pitch you want to align with its parent. Step 2: Run Align Pitch located under Setup >Modify>orientation: Align Pitch. Align Pitch will change the bones rotation and automatically move to the next child bone. This makes it easy to just step down a chain you want to align. NOTE: Ensure that IK is disabled and that Bones are turned off. An easy way to do this is to use Bone Edit Mode. Setup>General> Bone Edit: Enter Bone Edit Mode.

In this example the object has been selected so Scale Hierarchy will affect all the bones.

WARNING: This operation cannot be undone. Please save your work before executing the tool.

If you choose to scale targets and goals. Scale Hierarchy will attempt to move them along with the bones.

Orientation: Align Pitch

Twists the selected bone so that its pitch rotation axis is coplanar with that of its parent.

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Record Pivot Rotation (default keyboard shortcut

Shift P )

Record Bone Rest Position (default keyboard shortcut R )

Once a bone is placed and keyframed you must set its rest position and activate it. Usually, you will use the keyboard shortcut for the Record Bone Rest Position command, which is the r key. This does two things: records the rest position and activates the bone. From then on, any changes to the bone will deform the object. NOTE: When adjusting a chain of bones individually youll need to keyframe each bone (or use Auto Key Create in the General Options Tab of the Preferences Panel) before moving on to the next bone. When you use the Record Bone Rest Position command, LightWave sets the rest position by copying the bones current position and rotation values to the Rest Position and Rest Direction values (Bones Panel). This creates a point of reference, so that if you later move the bone (not the object), it can inuence the objects shape. If you need to reset the rest position, you may want to deactivate the bone before reapplying the Record Bone Rest Position command. Alternatively, you could manually edit the Rest Position and Rest Direction values. NOTE: All of the Bone Edit tools (Joint Mover, Tip Move, Bone Twist) will record the bones rest position automatically.

(Setup>Modify>Orientation>Record Piv Rot) RPR is used to zero out the current items rotation at its current physical rotation. Basically it masks the real rotational values and allows LightWave to see H=0, P=0, B=0 after it is set. This can help avoid problems with Gimbal Lock.

Before RPR is applied in this example the bones heading (the red circle) is not aligned with its bone.

After RPR is applied the bones heading (the red circle) is now aligned with the length of its bone.

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Remove Pivot Position

RemovePivotPos will remove Record Pivot Position from the entire rig.When invoked, a warning will be displayed. Press OK and RPP will be removed.

Remove RPR
(Setup>Modify>Orientation>Remove RPR)
Before split.

RemoveRPR will remove RPR from the entire rig. When invoked, a warning will be displayed. Press OK and RPR will be removed. The rotational values of the bones that had RPR applied will no longer read 0 degrees.

Detail
Bone Split
Allows you to break a single bone into multiple bones.
After split.

The new bones will retain the original bones name but the string _1, _2, _3, etc... will be appended to them.

Spline Interp Number of New Bones

The number of bones that can be created range from 2 to 100. The spline interpolation option uses the direction of the parent of the selected bone and the direction of the selected bone, weighted by their size, and creates the new bones along a spline which gets its initial and nal slope from the directions of the parent of the selected bone and the selected bone itself, respectively.

Colinear
The Colinear option will break the original bone into 2 to 100 new bones whose total length will equal that of the original

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Mode of Connection
Snap Parent to Child keeps the parents rest position but swings its tip over to connect to the childs base end. Snap Child to Parent keeps the childs tip position the same, but swings its base over to connect to the parents tip. Parent in Place creates a parent child relationship between the bones, but keeps their position and rotation in global coordinates the same.
Before Spline Interp split.

Create a New Bone Between connects the selected bones with a new bone between the parents tip and the childs base. This Bone / Will be parented to displays the selected bones and indicates which bone will be parent and which bone will be child. Swap Selections allows you to change the selection order without leaving the tool.

After Spline Interp split.

The new bones will retain the original bones name but with the string _1, _2, _3, etc... appended for each in series.

Bone Connect
Setup > Detail: Bone Connect will connect any 2 selected bones, as long as the child to be of the pair is not already parented.

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Bone Fuse

UnParent Bone (default keyboard shortcut

Ctrl U )

Fuses two selected bones, if they have a parent/child relationship.

(Setup>Detail>UnParent Bone) The selected bones relationship with its parent bone (if there is one) is severed, and it is parented to its object. After being unparented, the selected bones rest position is edited so that it remains in place, not moving, with respect to global coordinates.

Edit
Copy Hierarchy
When invoked, the selected bone and all of its children are copied along with goals and targets if you choose.

The newly created bone will have its base located where the parents base was and its tip located where the childs tip was.

The copied hierarchy will appear next to the selected bone but slightly offset. The parent of the newly created copy will be the same as the copied bones parent.

The newly created bones name will be the original name of the parent.

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Root of Hierarchy to Copy Displays the selected bone that is the root of the hierarchy that you want to copy. Copy Goals, Item Shapes, Targets Select YES if you want any of these copied and NO if you only want the bones in the hierarchy copied. Select the root bone of the hierarchy that you want to copy.

Name Edit Method Add Prex/Add Sufx

The user interface panel allows you to add a Prex or Sufx. You can type in your own into the Prex/Sufx to add to Bone Names text box. Or choose one from the Prex/ Sufx to add to Bone Names pop up menu.

Replace String
You also can choose to replace an existing text string in the original hierarchy with a new text string. Type the string you wish to replace into the Replace this String text box and the string you want to replace it with into the With this String text box. Run Setup> Edit> Copy Hierarchy and select copy your options and set the Name Edit Method.

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Root of the Hierarchy

This displays the selected bone whose hierarchy will be mirrored.

Mirror Goals, Goal Item Shapes, Mirror Targets

Select YES if you want any of these mirrored along with the hierarchy and NO if you only want the bones in the hierarchy copied.

Center
Allows you to add an offset from the center. The copied hierarchy will be placed right below the original and parented to the same bone as the original. If you want to parent it to a different bone run UnParent Bone and then use Bone Connect to parent it to a new bone.

Use Major Axis

Use Coord Axis You can choose this option to mirror across the X, Y or Z axis.

Mirror Hierarchy
(default keyboard shortcut Ctrl W )

Axis
Choose the Axis you wish to mirror across. Other This option will allow you to mirror using compound angles. Every unit you add to each axis adds to the angle of the resulting mirror.

When invoked, the selected bone and all of its children are mirrored about a plane.

Name Edit Method Add Prex/Add Sufx

The user interface panel allows you to add a Prex or Sufx. You can type in your own into the Prex/Sufx to add to Bone Names text box. Or choose one from the Add Prex/ Sufx to add to Bone Names pop up menu.

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Replace String
You can also choose to replace an existing text string in the original hierarchy with a new text string. Type the string you wish to replace into the Replace this String text box and the string you want to replace it with into the With this String text box.

Name Edit Method Add Prex/Add Sufx

The user interface panel allows you to add a Prex or Sufx. You can type in your own into the Prex/Sufx to add to Bone Names text box. Or choose one from the Prex/ Sufx to add to Bone Names pop up menu.

Replace String
You also can choose to replace an existing text string in the original hierarchy with a new text string. Type the string you wish to replace into the Replace this String text box and the string you want to replace it with into the With this String text box.

Import RIG
(default keyboard shortcut Shift I )

Rename Hierarchy

(Setup>Edit>Import RIG) Import RIG will read les saved in the RIG le format (See the RIG SDK for more information) and load them into LightWave.

When invoked, the selected bones hierarchy can be renamed. The options are Add Prex, Add Sufx, or Replace String.

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Hierarchy will be parented to:

Displays the bone or item that the imported hierarchy will become a child of.

Browse Rig File:

This will open a le requester so you can navigate to the location of the RIG le that you want to import.

Import Goals, ItemShapes, Targets

Select YES if you want to import goals and targets along with the bones. Step 1: Select the bone or object you wish to import to be parented to and run Setup> Edit> Import RIG.

Name Edit Method Add Prex/AddSufx

The user interface panel allows you to add a Prex or Sufx. You can type in your own into the Prex/Sufx to add to Bone Names text box. Or choose one from the Prex/ Sufx to add to Bone Names pop up menu.

Replace String
You can also choose to replace an existing text string in the original hierarchy with a new text string. Type the string you wish to replace into the Replace this String text box and the string you want to replace it with into the With this String text box. To use Import RIG to import a hierarchy:

Step 2: Browse to the folder that contains the RIG le you want to use. Step 3: Select the import options. Step 4: Click OK.

Chapter 18: Rigging Step 5: The RIG information dialog will pop up. Press OK.

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NOTE: With this rst release there are limitations to what can be exported from the rig. The motion modiers that make up many of the rigs used right now are not supported, but will be very soon. A new scheme to allow plugins to communicate and share their settings data will be added. The rst to have this done is the ItemShape plugin that allows you to customise the way Nulls and other objects are displayed. This allows the RIG le format to read the data directly from the plugin. As the other plugins add this feature, the RIG le format will be able to export and import ALL items and settings used in rigging a character.

Step 6: Another dialog will appear with bone count information. Click OK.

Step 7: The arm has been imported along with IK and custom object and parented to the selected bone. Just enable IK and it will work.

Root of Hierarchy to Export

Displays the parent or root of the hierarchy to be exported.

Export RIG
(default keyboard shortcut Shift I )

Browse Export File:

This will open a le requester so you can choose a place to save your export.

(Setup>Edit>Export RIG) With Export RIG (hierarchy) you can select a parent bone of a hierarchy or an object containing a hierarchy and export it for future use in another mesh. You can export goals, targets and keep the custom item shapes that may have been added.

Description of Rig to Export

Enter a useful description about the export so you will know what you have when you import this le back into LightWave.

Whats Exported?
Most settings applied to the hierarchy will be exported. IK settings and other properties will go along with the RIG le. See the note below for limitations.

Export Goals, ItemShapes, Targets.

Select YES if you want to export goals and targets along with the bones. To export a hierarchy from a selected bone:

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LightWave 9 - Layout Step 3: Browse to the folder you wish to export to and choose the settings. Step 4: Click OK.

Delete Delete Hierarchy

Delete Hierarchy (Setup>Edit>Delete>Delete Hierarchy).

Step 1: Select the bone that is the parent of the hierarchy you wish to export.

When invoked, the selected bone and all of its children and grandchildren, etc. are deleted, leaving all other bones in place. NOTE: You may nd the need to reparent the children using Bone Connector.

Delete Bone
Delete Bone will delete the selected bone without causing the remaining bone to move.

Step 2: Run Setup> Edit> Export RIG and the dialog box will appear.

Bone To Delete Displays the name of the selected bone.

Chapter 18: Rigging Parent Child Bones to Deleteds Parent Will parent the remaining bones (if there are any) to the deleted bones parent. to Object Will parent the remaining bones (if there are any) to the object.

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Parent Item
This brings up a pulldown list that allows you to parent the current item to any other item in the list excluding bones, which can only be parented to another bone belonging to the same object or to the object they belong to.

Unparent
Unparents the current Item from its current parent.

NOTE: This operation cannot be undone.

Target Item
This brings up a list of items that will allow the currently selected item to target or point at.

Motions Options Panel

Motion Options Panel
(default keyboard shortcut M )

IK and Modier IK and Modiers Tab

Align to Path Look Ahead This allows an item that has keyframed motion and align to path activated to look ahead or anticipate twists and turns in the motion path. NOTE: Align to Path is an option found under the Controllers and Limits Tab inside the Controller controls for Heading, Pitch and Bank. Unaffected by IK of Descendents This option is used to dene the root of an IK chain. It acts as an anchor for IK based motions and stops the motion from passing back beyond that item. Goal Object This is an item which is usually the handle at the end of an IK chain. This handle serves the same function as a control rod on the end of a muppets arm or the strings on a puppet.

When an item in Layout is selected, clicking the Motion Options button opens a panel containing various controls for the selected item.

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LightWave 9 - Layout Add Modier This panel allows additional plugins included with LightWave or available from third party sources to be activated. These plugins will allow motions to be controlled or modied in various ways. Next to each motion modier in the list is a check box. This can be used to temporarily activate or deactivate the modier next to it.

Full-time IK When this option is off, IK is not calculated full-time. This means that animating the goal object will have no effect on the items with IK active. The goal object will affect the IK items while posing. The items that are part of the IK chain will have to be keyframed manually. In this mode the Goal object acts as an aid to pose the IK chain. When this option is turned on, IK is calculated full-time. This allows the goal object to be used to animate with full-time and the items in the IK chain do not need to be keyframed. Goal Strength This option is used to determine how much the end of the IK chain follows or is attracted to the goal object. This is particularly important when using multigoal IK chains. One goal for example could be used to control the placement of a leg/foot and another to determine the orientation of a knee joint. You would want the goal at the end of the leg to have a greater goal strength then the one at the knee. Sometimes this takes a little tuning to get right. With a character that is modelled to human scale, goal strengths from 30 -100 work well. Interestingly enough the smaller the character the larger the goal strength and the bigger the character the smaller the the goal strength needed. Match Goal Orientation As stated before the Goal object acts as a sort of handle or the control rod on the end of a muppets arm. By turning on match goal, the last bone in the IK chain will match its orientation to that of the goal objects. This allows things like a foot or hand to stay locked in place rather then pivot around the goal object. Keep Goal Within Reach It is possible for the goal object to move away from its IK chain once it exceeds the length of the chain. This is normal but can be disconcerting to some people. If this option is turned on, the goal object will always stay at the end of the IK chain.

Camera TriggerCruise Control

Will move item with constant speed. The direction of motion will be the direction at time 0. There must be at least two keys in the object motion, preferably linear.

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CurveConstraint

FX_Link

CurveConstraint moves an item along a curve object, similar to a motion path. The curve object is selected on the Curve pop-up menu. (If there is more than one curve in the object, the rst curve is used.) Align Will rotate the object so that it faces along the curve in the traditional Z axis manner. Start Time/ End Time These values determine how long the item takes to traverse the curve. Curve Inuence The Curve Inuence percentage blends the curve motion in or out. CurveConstraint does not remain locked to the curve, but adds the curves position to its own keyframed motion. To lock the item to the curve, simply parent the item to the curve, reset the items position then delete all its keyframes. You might use CurveConstraint to move an object along the same curve used to create the geometry (or create the curve from the geometry), just like you would with a roller coaster.

Particles Choose particle group. The Rotation drop-list determines which rotation method the particle will have when emitted. The default value, Non, has no rotation added. The Random option gives the item a random starting rotation. Align to Path(h) and Align to Path(hp) will rotate the item according to the particles path. Time shift moves the start of the items sizing/rotation motion according to the settings in the drop-list. The Non value doesnt alter the timing of the items motion, it plays as it was originally keyframed. The Start Shift and End Shift options move the items motion to the beginning or end of the particles life. The Start Adjust (distance) and End Adjust (distance) settings will alter the frame rate of the motion according to the value in the Distance/Sec eld. As the particle travels a certain distance, a percentage of the motion is animated. The Pre and Post Behavior settings indicate what the items rotation/scaling state will be when the motion isnt being animated. This represents the time before the particle is born and after it dies. The Stay behavior will hold the rst frame of the motion for the Pre Behavior and the last frame with the Post Behavior. The Original setting returns the object to its original state in either the beginning or ending of the animation.

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LightWave 9 - Layout Size This option affects the outer boundary used for collision detection. It can also be used by volumetric plugins like HyperVoxels. Resistance This option adds an air resistance effect. Items will move slower as this value is increased. Momentum This option adds in a momentum or increased mass effect. Items will tend to resist being stopped or slowed down. Rotation Resistance This option has the same effect as Resistance except that it affects the items rotational channels. z-Rotation by wind(deg/m) This option rotates the item in its bank channel as it moves or is affected by the wind.

The Size Dissolve setting will dissolve the item in either the beginning or ending of the particles life. So in the Pre Behavior, while the particle is waiting to be generated, its not visible. Then for the Post Behavior, after the particle dies, it becomes invisible. Size effect applies the particle size to the object. The objects normal layout size becomes a factor where 0 = 0% and 1 = 100%. You can animate an overall size of particles using normal layout sizing functions.

FX_Motion
Mode Tab

Vector Tab

make key Generates a key for every frame. Group Select an existing group or create a new one. Mode After collision Choose an action post collision: none, reverse, random, stop. Start Frame Choose what frame to start the effect. Start by event Use this option if you want to trigger the motion upon collision. Weight This option sets an arbitrary weighting value that will inuence how factors like gravity affect the item. Initial Velocity This option sets the initial direction and force.

Chapter 18: Rigging Velocity coordinates This option sets whether these settings use the items local axes or world coordinates. Initial Rotation(deg/s) This option sets the items initial HPB rotation. Random Rotation Start This option randomises the initial HPB rotation. Update This option updates/refreshes the current seeings in the Layout viewport. This is good to do with a heavy scene. Copy This option copies the current settings. Paste This option pastes settings in the copy buffer over the current settings.

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For example, you can setup keyframes on wheels of a car so they revolve continually, while parented to a car. Then, apply cyclist to the individual wheels, setting the car (or master parent) as the cycle controller. When the car moves, the wheels will turn. Cycle Frames Denes the frame range that contains the action that you want repeated (i.e., the animation cycle). Cycle Controller Controls the item based on the selected control parameter, dened on the pop-up menu just to the right. The control parameters can be an items position, rotation, scale, speed, or the distance it has traveled along its actual path length. The Forward Progress, Side Slip, and Climb parameters take into account the items orientation and tell how far the item has been moving forward (Z axis), to the right (X axis), or up (Y axis), respectively. Speed looks at the items velocity. Controller Range Denes how much change is required to equal one full animation cycle. The unit of measure for this parameter depends on the selected control parameter. For Position and other Distance settings, the unit of measure is in the LightWave Default Unit dened on the General Options Tab of the Preferences Panel. Rotation uses degrees and scale is a factor where 1 equals 100 percent. Speed is in default units per second. End Behavior Determines what happens after the rst cycle is completed. World Coordinates

Cyclist
Cyclist will associate the action of one item with a repeatable action (an animation cycle) of another item.

Channels are activated by clicking on the buttons that represent each channel at the top of the Cyclist Panel. All activated channels will have their values replaced by the animation-cycle values of that same channel, but at the time determined by the Cycle Controller. Channels that are not enabled will retain their normal value at the particular frame.

Select this button to use the Cycle Controller s actual (world) coordinates, rather than its relative coordinates. These could be different if, for example, the object is parented to another object.

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LightWave 9 - Layout The Axis buttons will be greyed out if you choose Point. The impact of the effector object is set and animated by keyframing its XYZ Size channels. Positive values repel and negative values attract. Expression This is a motion-modier version of expressions, which can use the results of other motion modiers, as well as IK. This is not possible with a channel modier.

After IK Although the motion of the item will always come from keyframes, the motion can be used to move an IK goal, if After IK is off. Effector Effector causes effector objects to repel or attract the motion path of the affected object. The effector objects may be any objects you wish, but Null objects work best.

Effector Object(s) Prex Use this to set the prex name. Any object that begins with this name will be an effector, allowing you to have more than one based simply on their names. Solid Core Radius Denes a spherical area, within which all objects are equally affected. Falloff Distance There is a gradual falloff of the effect between the Solid Core Radius and Falloff Distance. Objects outside the Falloff Distance are not affected at all. Effector Shape There are two choices, Point or Plane. If you choose Plane, you will need to specify the Axis.

Channel You can select multiple channels from the pop-up menu and apply different settings for each (i.e., you dont just pick one). They can all share scratch variables (A through Z) and the expressions can be aware of other components of the items motion. Thus, H can depend on Z, for example, without trying to reference the items object. Follower Using the Follower item motion modier is similar to parenting an object to another, except that you have control over which motion channels you wish to inherit. You can also modify and delay the inherited value. Moreover, the motion can be inherited from the camera, a light, a bone, or any object in the scene. Follower looks at the pivot point of the item to follow, therefore, certain objects that follow another should match pivots.

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other times.) The overall delay amount for each item is xed over the course of the animation, so this is useful for basic ocking effects. NOTE: The random number seed is taken from the object ID, which should be the same among ScreamerNet nodes and, thus, will cause items to have different delay amounts. The delay stays the same from frame to frame.

Path Delay This parameter species a xed following distance along the path of motion of the leader, which is helpful for keeping cars in a train following correctly through accelerations. Item To Follow Use the pop-up menu to dene the item whose motion you want to use. This item would be considered the leader. World Coordinates Activate this option to use the leaders actual (world) coordinates, rather than its relative coordinates. These could be different if, for example, the object is parented to another object. Time Delay The amount of seconds entered is added to the current time. A negative number can be used if desired. Randomize Is a maximum amount of time (in seconds) to be added to the delay. The actual amount will be between 0 and the Randomize value. This number may be negative or even larger than the Time Delay. (The latter would cause the item to sometimes anticipate the leaders moves and lag at Align to Path This option will align the follower object to its new path. After IK Allows you to apply Follower taking (or not taking) into account changes from IK. Channel Represents position, rotation and scale. Source Select a Source for any of the leader objects motion channels you wish to use. Generally, the type of motion channels will match. That is, the follower objects, say, X Position will be determined from the leaders X Position. However, the settings can be different. For example, the follower objects Bank Angle might be derived from the leaders Z Position. Select none to disregard that channel.

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LightWave 9 - Layout Elasticity Describes the amount of energy lost on each bounce, which equates to the relative height of the bounces. Thus, 100% Elasticity is completely bouncy, and bounces forever, 0% doesnt bounce at all. Start Frame/End Frame The Start Frame and End Frame parameters specify when the effect is applied. NOTE: The most natural results will occur if all the keyframed motion within the range of frames is a single linear path. In particular, the trajectory is determined by an objects initial speed and direction of motion.

Multiply By You can scale the value applied to a channel by inputting a factor other than 1 in the corresponding eld. Add The channel value may be offset by inputting a value other than 0 in the Add eld. Gravity Gravity simulates the effects of the Earths gravity on an items motion, making it fall naturally and even bounce with varying degrees of elasticity.

NOTE: Your object must start in a positive position along the selected Axis.

Strength This is the acceleration due to gravity in units of g, the Earths standard gravity. Axis The objects position will be altered along the specied Axis. Ground Level Sets the height at which the object will meet the ground. This is measured in the Default Unit (General Options Tab of the Preferences Panel).

LScript
Allows you to add an LScript motion modier to an item.

Lscript/RT
Allows you to add a compiled LScript motion modier to an item.

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Motion Baker
Motion Baker will freeze the motion of an item into individual keys. Motion Baker takes into account not only IK, but also motion/channel modiers, align to path, and so on. Dragging your frame slider or playing the scene starts the computation.

NOTE: Motion Bakers position in a list of item motion modiers does not matter unless another modier has an AfterIK option and it is active.

Oscillator
Oscillator applies damped harmonic oscillator motions (i.e., decreasing waves) to selected animation channels of an objects motion. Examples of this effect are everywhere, from springs and guitar strings to a grandfather clock pendulum.

New Key Mode Extra Channels Places the keys in a special AfterIK channel group you might use these with expressions. Use Existing Will create normal keys for the selected position or rotation channels. Overwrite Keys Any existing key data will be overwritten. Note that the existing key data will include the effect of Motion Baker recorded on a previous pass.

Channel Use the Channel pop-up menu to select an animation channel to be affected. Enable Activate the Enable button to turn on the selected channel. The oscillator value will replace the normal channel value. You may independently enable multiple channels and each channel may have its own independent group of settings. Additive Additive adds the oscillator value to the channel rather than replacing it. If this setting is active, a plus sign (+) will appear next to the channel name. If Additive is off, an asterisk (*) will appear next to each enabled channel name.

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Cycle Time Cycle Time is the period of the oscillation (i.e., wave), that is, the number of seconds between successive crests. Wave Size Refers to amplitude; the oscillator adds/subtracts this amount at its positive/negative crests. Offset The Offset value is also added to the oscillator value on each frame. Essentially, this sets the value of the horizontal axis that runs through the wave. By default it is zero. Phase Phase sets where the wave crests with respect to the beginning of the cycle, it ranges from 0 to 360 degrees. Essentially, the wave is shifted horizontally. Damping If Damping is applied, the crests will fall or grow over time, as is appropriate for harmonic oscillators. Damping units are a percent per cycle. Start Frame/End Frame The Start Frame and End Frame parameters specify when the oscillator is applied. Copy/Paste Copy and Paste use an internal clipboard to move Oscillator settings between channels or Layout items. NOTE: The formula is: channel value = old value + size * sin( phase + 2*pi*time/cycle time ) * exp(-t*damping factor). Where the damping factor is a special number computed from the Damping percentage.

Sun Spot
Sun Spot is a motion modier that will rotate an item, usually a Distant light, to match the suns angle at the specied date and time.

Distance The radial distance from the rotation center, at which the light is pointing. NOTE: Remember that the position of a Distant light is not that important since the light will always come from the direction it is pointing, even behind the Distant lights position. Time Settings Determine the starting angle. For example, the Hour eld should be set from 1 to 24 and Day is the day of the selected Month. Time Lapse When Time Lapse is set to 0, there is no sun rotation. A value of 1, will make the sun rotate in real-time, which is

Chapter 18: Rigging very slow (i.e., one second of animation equals one second of sun rotation in the real world). The rotation may be imperceptible in short animations. In such cases, you may want to leave it at 0 to minimise any impact on rendering time from moving lights. You can accelerate the movement by increasing Time Lapse. For example, 86400 (60 seconds * 60 minutes * 24 hours) will cause one days rotation to occur in one second. Longitude/Latitude Set the Longitude and Latitude for the part of the world your sun is (theoretically) shining on. Time Zone Time Zone is +/- Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). There are presets provided. During night hours, the sun will stay at its lowest point at the end of its cycle and then pop to the starting point at the beginning of the next cycle. In other words, it will not revolve in a 360-degree circle. Scale

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Acts as a multiplier for the motion. A value of 1 has no effect. Axis Determines the perpendicular mapping axis, as would be the case with an Image Map.

MathMotion
This tool allows you to apply simple mathematical formulas to various channels of items to control their motion.

Use Variables This eld is where variables such as time, frame, rotation, position, etc are selected. Channel This option allows you to choose which channel the variable will have an effect on. Replace Keyframed Motion This option lets the formula contained in the Value eld to modify or override the items keyframed motions.

TextureMotion
TextureMotion lets you apply the contour of texture to a motion. Thus, if you used the same exact texture for a Displacement Map (on a subdivided plane), you could automatically have the item move over it following the contour without much effort!

Value
Offset Lets you move the motion in the positive or negative direction along the selected Axis. This is the mathematical formula that will create the motions.

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LightWave 9 - Layout Keep initial scale This option allows the item to keep its initial starting scale or size. After IK This option will calculate the parenting after IK is calculated rst. This also means that you will have to manually keyframe the items position at that position when this option is used.

Parenter
Parenter allows you to apply dynamic parenting.

Parent Opens the Select new parent dialog. Select new parent This option allows different parents to be selected over time. Unparent Clicking Unparent freezes or bakes the parented state at the current frame, but onlyuntil the next parenting entry, if any. Delete Deletes the new parental relationship. Edit Keep initial position This option allows the item to keep its initial starting position. Keep initial rotation This option allows the item to keep its initial starting orientation. Allows you to edit an existing parental relationship.

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SimplePointConstraints is used for positional effects; SimpleOrientConstraints is used for rotational effects; and, SimpleScaleConstraints is used for scaling. Adding Constraints The window lists each constraint entry in the order it becomes effective. The number on the left indicates the frame. The only difference between the Edit parent and Select new parent panels is that a frame slider is added to the Edit parent Panel. To set up a constraint, rst make sure the Layout current frame is where you want the constraint to start. Click the Add button to add a constraint entry to the list. A panel will appear where you adjust the settings for the entry. There are three main rows of settings. Each row controls the XYZ position, XYZ scale, or HPB rotation, depending on which modier you are using. Each channel has its own targeted scene item. HINT: The scene item selected on the pop-up menus will default to item currently selected in Layout just prior to clicking Add.

LeadtheFollower To use:
Step 1: Create a motion path for an object, and then parent one or more other objects to it. Step 2: Run LTF.LS for each of the child objects. Step 3: Use the Options button to bring up a requester where you can set the number of frames each object should be in relation to the parent object. (If the parents motion is set to Repeat, then the child objects motions will repeat too.)

Simple Constraints
Use Simple Constraints (SimpleOrientConstraints, SimplePointConstraints, and SimpleScaleConstraints) to achieve dynamic parenting effects. You can independently inherit (world) position, rotation, and scale from other items in the scene and even use different items for different channels. These modiers are keyframe-aware so you can have different settings at different times in your animation. You can also use Simple Constraints to set up your motion and then bake the motion into keys. To use SimpleConstraints, simply open the Motion Properties Panel for the item you want to control and add one of the Simple Constraints motion modiers.

The Weight value determines how much the channel is followed. The default, 100%, will match the targeted channels exactly. You can use less than 100% or even more than 100%. Note that you can use the Envelope (E) button to animate the weighting. SimpleConstraints uses the pivot points for the source and target for its computation, so keep this in mind if the effect isnt turning out like you expect. Also, world space position, rotation, and/or scale are used, overriding the sources parenting and keyframed data. Select Null constraint if you want to disable and bake (see next section) the constraint at the current frame. You may disable any channel by clicking off the XYZ or HPB button, making it unhighlighted. You can also set the

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LightWave 9 - Layout up exactly like Simple Constraints, described above. The difference is that the object retains its keyframe motion and is merely inuenced by the target.

selected item to none. You can edit an existing entry by selecting it with your mouse and then clicking the Edit button. Baking To disable all constraints within a range of frames, but retain the constrained states, you can bake the constraint effect into actual keys. However, note that keys are only created where the targeted object has a key, not at every frame. Also, the keys Incoming Curve will be set to Stepped. This locks the state at each create key. To bake the constraints, click the Bake Range button. In the panel that appears, set the sliders to dene the range of frames you want to be baked. If you only want to bake the current frame, click Bake Current Frame to set the sliders to only the current frame. Click OK to execute the process. After baking, the constraints falling within the baked range will become disabled. Obviously, subsequent adjustments to targeted items will not affect baked motions. If you click UnBake Selected, the selected constraint will be re-activated. Any keys created from baking will remain; however, remember that constraints will override them. Deleting Constraints To delete a constraint from the list, simply select it with your mouse and click the Delete button.

Parenter
Parenter is also a dynamic-parenting modier, but is easier to setup compared to SimpleConstraints. It also differs in that you can keep the (source) items initial state and take only into account changes in the parent. To use Parenter, simply open the Motion Properties Panel for the item you want to parent to something else and add the Parenter motion modier. To add a parenting entry, change Layouts current frame to the desired time and click the Parent on Parenter s settings panel. A dialog will appear. Select the parent item on the pop-up menu. You may independently select to keep initial position, rotation, scale, and/or parent after taking into consideration effects of IK. Click OK to close the dialog and add the entry to the list. Note that when you are using the After IK option, you will need to manually create a key (in Layout) for the parented item at that frame. Clicking Unparent freezes or bakes the parented state at the current frame, but only until the next parenting entry, if any. To delete an entry from the list, select it and click the Delete button. You may edit a selected entry by clicking the Edit button.

Simple Constraints vs. Parenter

Simple Constraints are slightly faster than Parenter and allows you to control motion channels separately. In general, you should use Parenter, unless your item hierarchy is deep enough to cause performance issues.

SuperJitter

Simple Affectors
The Simple Affector modiers (SimpleOrientAffector, SimplePointAffector, and SimpleScaleAffector) are set

Chapter 18: Rigging Jitter Control Select an item to control jitter. Control Manually Selecting this enables the Channel setting. Channel Allows you to choose which channel (position, rotation, size) to apply jitter to. You have to click the ON button to activate the chosen channel. Max Jitter Clips the amount of jitter that can be applied. The E button allows you to set an envelope. Jitters/Sec Sets the frequency of the effect. The E button allows you to set an envelope. Edit This allows you to check the properties of a motion modier plugin or access its control panel. You can also copy, paste and remove motion modiers. This makes it easy to set up the attributes on one object and then copy/paste to other objects. Heading, Pitch and Bank Controllers These contain four options for controlling the rotation channels.

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Controllers and Limits Tab

1. Keyframe This simply means that you can manually orient an item in that channel and keyframe its position at anytime. 2. Point at Target This allows a particular rotational channel to target an item. Target Item in the main motion panel must be set to some item. 3. Align to Path This allows the rotational channel of an item to align to its motion path. With the Align to Path Look Ahead controller under the IK and Modiers Tab we can make this channel look ahead or anticipate a turn. 4. Inverse Kinematics This allows IK to control this channel. If other channels are set to FK we can selectively determine which rotational channels are controlled via IK or FK.

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Heading, Pitch and Bank Limits We can determine a range within which a rotational channel of an item can rotate. This is useful to keep joints from hyperextending or keeping IK controlled joints from popping. It is also useful to keep items that are very closely spaced from rotating in and through each other. Heading, Pitch and Bank Stiffness This setting allows you to set a stiffness or resistance on the rotational channels of an item. This works when the controller for a channel is set to IK. The Stiffness setting can help to determine which items in an IK chain will bend rst or last. Higher values make a joint harder to bend and lower values easier to bend.

Bone Properties Panel

The Bone property panel gives you access to all the settings available for bones in LightWave Layout.

Limits
Record Minimum/Maximum Joint Angles You can interactively set the rotational Min and Max values by rotating the item to the desired minimum direction and choosing Setup > Motions > Limits > Record Minimum Joint Angles. This will activate minimum limits for any rotational parameters (heading, pitch, or bank) that are currently active for the chosen item. Similarly, rotating the item to the desired maximum range limit and choosing Setup > Motions > Limits > Record Maximum Joint Angles will automatically input the values into the maximum limits for the active rotational parameters. You can deactivate Heading, Pitch, and/or Bank to avoid setting limits for the deactivated setting.

Bone properties can be accessed in two ways: 1. Select the Bones button at the bottom left corner of Layout and then click the Properties button located in the same corner.

2. Press Shift B and then P.

Use Bones From Object

This pop up menu allows you to choose a different object whose bone properties you would like to edit. When you rst open the Bone Properties Panel, you only have access to

Chapter 18: Rigging the bones of the object that you had originally selected. This allows you to change to a different object without having to leave the Properties Panel.

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Clear All bones

As the name suggests, this button will clear all bones from the current object.

Falloff type
Falloff Type uses a mathematical formula to set the falloff strength of a bones inuence in the current object. An exponent is used (^2, ^4, ^8, ^16) to gure out how quickly the falloff will happen. The larger the number the quicker the inuence of the bones will falloff.

Inverse Distance ^2

Inverse Distance

Inverse Distance ^128

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Use Morphed Positions

With this enabled, bone deformations will be applied after morphs. This option can adversely affect performance; normally it should be turned off.

Bone Weight Map

Use this pop up menu to select a Weight Map to apply to the current bone. The inuence a bone has on a point is now modied with the strength of the various Weight Maps on a given point.

Faster Bones
Each vertex will only be affected by the four closest bones in the object. This can increase performance in objects with more than four bones.

Use Weight Map Only

Only uses values attained from an applied Weight Map to set bone inuence. Since each vertex can have multiple Weight Maps, various bones can have a distinct inuence on a vertex based on the strength of each Weight Map it is assigned to. Note that if a point has only one Weight Map, the bone assigned to that weight will have 100% inuence on that point no matter what the value of the Weight Map is. In order for a bone to have partial control over a point, that point must have at least two Weight Maps assigned to it. If the total value of the combined Weight Maps exceeds 100%,unpredictable results can occur. The same goes when using negative weights. To insure predictable results in this mode, it is best to also check Weight Map Normalization. Another thing to know is that in this mode all other bone functions cease to apply.

Current bone
Shows the currently selected bone.

Bone Active
When checked bone is on (active).

Rest Position
This determines the position of a bone at the time it is rested. When a bone is rested in layout it has an effect on every vertex in the object. How much effect it has is called weighting (not to be confused with Weight Maps). How much a point is weighted towards a specic bone depends on several factors. The most important is distance from the bone and bone falloff.

Rest Rotation
This determines the orientation of a bone at the time it was rested.

Weight Normalization
Use this option to obtain predictable results when using Weight Map Only. This feature ensures that the total values of several Weight Maps applied to a vertex never exceed 100%. To calculate the amount of inuence a bone will have on a particular point we have to know how many Weight Maps are assigned to bones and what their values are. For example, to calculate the amount of inuence a bone will have on a vertex we have to know both the total number of Weight Maps on that point, and also their values. Assuming each

Rest Length
This determines the length of a bone at the time it was rested.

Chapter 18: Rigging Weight Map is assigned to a bone, we will conclude that the amount of inuence a bone has on that point is derived as follows: Point A has three weight maps assigned to it named Upp_Arm, Low_Arm and Elbow. What is the amount of inuence the Elbow bone will have on Point A ? Point A = Elbow/(Upp_Arm + Elbow + Low_Arm)

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NOTE: The following options only operate in the pitch channel.

Joint Compensation
Sometimes bones used to create joints can cause pinching or unwanted bunching, much like a folded garden hose. Joint Compensation (Bones Panel) will remedy this effect by making the affected points tend to maintain the original volume inside the joint. The result is a more realistic-looking joint. You can modify the compensation amount to increase or decrease the effect.

Strength
Whenever two or more bones are present, Strength (Bones Panel) will determine the inuence one bone has over another when ranges of inuence intersect. If the option to limit the bones range is inactive, all points within the object are considered completely within the inuence range of each bone.

Joint Comp for Parent

This option shears the points affected by the parent bone during the child bones rotation. This compensation also alleviates the pinching effect often caused by bones. At the same time the point shear occurs, the bone will also try to maintain the volume inside the joint.

Multiply Strength by Rest Length

The Multiply Strength by Rest Length option (Bones Panel) causes a bone to multiply its Strength by its Rest Length to determine the inuence of the bone. Bones with larger rest lengths will exert greater inuence over other bones with equal Strength values, but smaller rest lengths.

Muscle Flexing
With this option the points affected by the bone will are out as the bone is rotated. The effect simulates muscles bulging under the skin.

Limited Range
When Limited Range (Bones Panel) is active, the Min value determines the sharp cutoff point of a bones inuence. Any points within this range are 100 percent affected by movement or sizing of the bone. Any points outside of this range are affected to a smaller extent or not at all depending on whether they fall within the Max. In an orthogonal view, the Max setting is visible in the viewport. A short bone will exert a spherical inuence, while longer bones exert a more oblong inuence.

Parental Muscle Flexing

This option is generally more commonly used than Muscle Flexing. For example, when your forearm rotates your biceps ex. The forearm is the child and the bicep is the parent. It would not look natural for the forearm to bulge as it is rotated, but it looks perfectly natural when the biceps ex.

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IKB Boost Tool

(default keyboard shortcut Ctrl B )

IK Booster (Modify>IK Boost Tool) is an animation system that can work independently from LightWaves base Inverse Kinematics or it can be used with LightWaves base IK. With IK Booster applied to an object you can gain access to Bone Dynamics and IK Booster character tools.

You can also add IK Booster to an object using the IK Boost tool (Modify> IK Boost Tool). Select the IK Boost tool and Right- Click on the object pivot point to bring up the option to Apply IK Booster.

Applying IK Booster
IK Booster can be applied to an object by adding it to the Custom Object list (Add Custom Object) in the Object Properties Panel. When IK Booster has been applied to an object all the bones in the object and all of the objects children will be set up with IK. Although IK Booster is ideal for character rigs, it can be a powerful tool for mechanical rigs as well.

Steps for applying IK Booster:

Step 1: Load your object (s) into Layout and either create bones, or convert Skelegons to bones. In the case of a segmented object, make sure all parts are parented properly.

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Step 3: Although there are some cases where Step 2 would be the last step before animating, in most cases you will want to apply further settings discussed below.

Step 2: Select the IK Boost tool (Modify> IK Boost Tool). Select the IK Boost tool and Right- Click on the object pivot point to bring up the option to Apply IK Booster. Select Apply IK Booster to activate IK Booster.

KeyFrame Mode
IK Booster has several keyframe modes you can choose from the Keyframe Mode drop down menu. If the DopeTrack is active, the Keyframe Mode button will be located on the left side of the track.

NOTE: IK Booster can also be applied in the Object Properties Panel as discussed above.

If the DopeTrack in not active, the Keyframe Mode selection will be located on the left side of the IK Booster track. The IK Booster Track is located at the bottom of the viewport windows. The Keyframe Mode selector on the IK Booster track doesnt bring up a drop down menu, instead it toggles between the modes as you click on it with the LMB.

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KeyFrame Modes
All Item When this mode is selected, if you create a key on an item, it creates a key for that item and the entire hierarchy. Parent With Parent mode, if you create a key on an item, it creates a key for that item and every parent up that items chain. Child In Child mode, if you create a key on an item, it creates a key on that item and all of its children. Parent + Child In this mode, if you create a key on an item, it creates a key for that item and every parent up that items chain, and every child down the chain. Current Item With Current Item mode, if you create a key on an item, it only creates the key on that item.

IKB Menu Options

Bone Dynamics
This option enables and disables all bone dynamic functions for the object that IK Booster has been applied to.

Global fxIK
IK Booster provides a global IK on/off switch. When this option is active all hierarchies in the object will be solved with IK. When this option is not active only the current hierarchy will be solved with IK.

IKB Menu
The IK Booster menu has several options to work with. If the DopeTrack is active, the IKB Menu will be located to the right of the DopeTrack.

IK bind
IK Booster has the option to x an item, which locks the position of the items controller. When IK Bind is active all xed items will stay xed. When it is not active, items that are xed will ignore their x setting and will no longer be locked to their position.

If the DopeTrack is not active, the IKB Menu will be located on the right side of the IK Booster track. The IK Booster Track is located at the bottom of the viewport windows.

Commands
Reset Rotation This command will set the rotational values of the item(s) back to their original value. NOTE: The KeyFrame Mode selected will determine the items affected by Reset Rotation.

Chapter 18: Rigging re-BakeSpot-all Any Bake Spot in the scene will be rebaked when this command is selected. NOTE: Any Bake Spot that was not previously baked will not be affected.

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Options
This brings up the IK Booster Options Panel.

Motions
IK Booster has several motion options to help speed up animating and increase productivity. Motion Copy This function will copy the objects entire motion to the clipboard. Motion Rollback This function will paste the last motion that was copied to the clipboard. NOTE: This will remove any work that you have done since the time of copying the motion. Motion Save This function will save the entire motion data of the IK Booster object to a text le. This gives you the ability to re-use motions from your object on objects that share the same setup. Motion Load This function will load an IK Booster motion data le that was previously saved using the Motion Save command. FxIk size This setting determines the accuracy of the IK solving. The higher the number the less accurate the IK solving will be. Group you can group Dynamic objects with a userdened name to prevent unwanted interaction. This also works with Particle FX controllers. This becomes very handy when you are working on a complex scene and you want certain Wind emitters to only affect certain objects. <default> Includes all groups. <new group> Creates individual group. Can associate functions within a group. NOTE: You can assign IKBoost settings to a group shared with Particle FX.

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Gravity Setting for downward (-y) gravity. NOTE: This option only applies to objects that have Bone Dynamics active.

value..

HINT: 9.8 in the Y is considered the value of earth gravity. If you are simulating any terrestrial effect, make sure you use this

Controller Size: 100mm

Size Mode This setting determines the size of the controller when it is selected. Size 1 Smallest selected size. Size 2 Medium selected size. Size 3 Largest selected size. Not Change The selected controller size will be based on Controller Size. The controller size when selected and unselected will be the same.

Fix by Collision This function will x items that pass through a collision object. NOTE: This option only applies to objects that have Bone Dynamics active. Controller Size Use this setting to change the size of the controller when it is unselected.

IK Booster and the Dope Track

When the DopeTrack is active while in IK Booster mode, there are two different menus that can be used, the Right Click menu, and the Right Click and drag menu. You will also see the Keyframe Mode and IKB Menu buttons that are unique to IK Booster discussed earlier.

Controller Size: 50mm

Right Click Menu

Right clicking on the dope track will bring up a menu with several functions described below.

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Copy key from current This function will copy a keyframe from the current frame (the frame the time slider is at), and paste the keyframe on the frame you right clicked on. Make Key This function will create a keyframe at the frame you have right clicked on. NOTE: If you would like to create keyframes for a range of frames, use the Bake Keys function in the Right Click and Drag Menu. Delete Key This function will delete the Keyframe at the frame you have right clicked on. NOTE: If you would like to delete a range of frames, use the Delete Keys function in the Right Click and Drag Menu. Save Pose This function will save an external le that contains the keyframe data of the IK Booster object for the frame you right clicked on. Load Pose This function will load a previously saved Pose le on the frame you right clicked on.

Bake Keys This function will create keyframes for the selected time range.

Time Range Selected

After Bake Keys

Delete Keys This function will delete keyframes in the selected time range.

Right Click and Drag Menu

Right clicking and dragging to select a desired time range on the Dope Track will bring up a menu with several functions described below.
Above: Time Range Selected, Below: After Delete Keys

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Apply Keys
All three applies use the rst and last keyframe in a range as boundaries, and the keyframe that the slider is currently sitting on (Current Frame) as a control point. Soft In the case of Soft Apply, a Hermite spline is generated using these keyframes as points to smooth out the intervening keyframes. Default Hermite coefcients are used.

Record Motion
This function will record the motion of the selected controller at xed distance intervals. Right Click and drag to select the time range, select Record Motion, and set the options in the Record Motion Panel.

Record Interval The set distance for each keyframe. Record Key Determines what items motion will be recorded using the various Keyframe Modes. Linear Linear Apply uses the same keyframes, but simply increments the keyframe values between the control points. After you set the options for Record Motion, the IK Booster track will display red to show that you are recording. After you have moved the controller through the time range the track will return to the default mode.

Flat Flat Apply snaps all intervening keyframes to the value of the control keyframe (the one the slider resides on).

Set Bakespot This function will create a Bakespot in the select time range. A Bakespot is a time range in which you can bake keys into the desired time range so that they will remain for future operations.

Use the Bakespot Handles to adjust the time range for the bakespot at any time. Bakespots have a right click drop down menu that gives you the following options:

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Spring Controls the springiness or stiffness of the controller. Reducing the Spring coefcient creates soft motions, while raising the Spring coefcient produces motions with a stronger repelling force. Setting the coefcient to an extremely large value creates stiff motions. Bake Keys This function will create keyframes for the selected bakespot. Re-bake-All Any Bake Spot that has been baked in the scene will be re-baked when this command is selected. Remove Bakespot Clears the bakespot from the track. Resistance Controls the amount of air resistance. Once applied a keyframe will be placed on every frame in the selected time range. NOTE: No calculations are needed when using this function.

Dynamics Effect
This function will apply dynamic motion to a controller over the selected time range. When this function is selected the Dynamic Effect Preview Panel will appear.

Bind Motion
This function will bake keyframes for the entire time range based on the keyframe of the rst frame in the range.

The graph in the preview, displays the motion that will be applied to the controller.The line in the background represents one second intervals. This graph gives you a visual representation of the motion that will be applied. Weight Denes the weight of the controller. You can achieve heavy motions by increasing the Weight value, and you can create light motions by decreasing Weight.

The example above shows bind motion in action. The Time range selected is from frame 36 to 49. When Bind Motion is selected every frame in the time range uses the data from Frame 35.

IK Booster Track

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If the DopeTrack is not active while in IK Booster mode, the IK Booster Track becomes functional. The Keyframe Mode and IKB Menu buttons appear on the track as discussed earlier and all operations for IK Booster that were available on the Dope Track are available for the IK Booster Track.

Keyframe Origin This marker shows the original location of the keyframes before any movement has taken place. Keyframe Move Location This marker shows where the Keyframe Origin is being moved to. The Time Range will be shaded to display what area of time is being affected.

IK Booster Track Time Ranges The IK Booster track displays time ranges differently then the DopeTrack. The time range will be shaded as it is in the Dope Track, but only the rst and last frame numbers will be displayed unlike the DopeTrack.

NOTE: The items that are affected by Time Range Keyframe Shifting are determined by the Keyframe mode.

IK Booster Viewport Controllers

Time Range Keyframe Shifting

You can use the IK Booster Track to shift a selected area of keyframes. This function is unique to the IK Booster Track and can be very useful.

IK Booster Frame Marker Place a frame marker by left clicking on the IK Booster Track. The Frame Marker is the frame on the track that marks the frame that the time range ends or begins depending on which side of the marker you click and drag in. NOTE: To remove the frame marker, simply left click on it.

Once you have applied IK Booster to your object you have many options for displaying and working with the controllers that are created for each item. The controllers appear as circles while in Rotate mode and boxes while in Move mode.

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Left clicking and dragging on the controller will allow you to move and rotate the controller freely. You can also left click and drag on individual channels to constrain the movement of the controller.

Fix This function will lock a controller in place. The controller will be displayed as a solid circle to indicate that it is xed.

Rotate Mode:
Red Heading Channel Green Pitch Channel Blue Bank Channel

Move Mode:
Red X Channel Green Y Channel Blue Z Channel

Ankle Controllers are xed

IK Stop This function will make the selected controller the new base of the IK chain, and only controllers farther down the chain are affected by any IK operation.The controller will display a diamond shape to indicate that IK Stop is active. A good example of using IK Stop is wagging the tail of a dog. Imagine a string of bones inside a solid dog object, extending down its tail. You want the tail to follow the dog as it moves about, but you do not want the dogs body to wag as the tailbones are animated. You activate IK Stop for the bone at the base of the tail to accomplish this.

Controller Right Click Menu

Right clicking on the controller will bring up the controller menu.

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LightWave 9 - Layout NOTE: This function is similar to Unaffected by IK of Descendants.

The Shoulder Controller has IK Stop applied.

FK Control This function will change the controller from Inverse Kinematics to Forward Kinematics (FK). Forward kinematics is the standard type of motion generated in LightWave when you rotate/move any parents in a chain. The position of the last controller in the chain is determined indirectly by the combination of all positions of any parent controller up (i.e., forward) through the chain. (For instance when you move your upper arm, your forearm and hand also move with it.)

Pose Save This function will save an external le that contains the position of the selected controller for the frame you are currently on. Pose Load This function will load a previously saved Controller Pose le at the frame you right clicked on. Motion Save This function will save the entire motion data for the selected controller to a text le. This gives you the ability to re-use motions from the selected controller. Motion Load This function will load a controllers motion data le that was previously saved using the Motion Save command.

Controller Options
The Options drop down menu has several functions to work with. File Tools The options listed below are le management tools for a controller.

Move/Rotate This function will toggle the control between

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Steps for setting an IK Target:

Step 1: Select the controller that you want to animate. Step 2: Select the controller you want to drive the animation. Step 3: Select Set IK Target. The target is setup and ready to go. Use the Target controller to drive the controller in step 1. Setting Copy This function will copy the settings from the previously selected controller. This can be a real time saver when setting up controllers on like items. One example would be setting up the left leg and copying the settings over to the right leg. Dynamics Edit This function will activate Dynamic Edit mode. Dynamic Edit mode allows you to set the dynamic properties for your controllers.

Left: Rotate, Right: Move

Quaternion This function will activate quaternion inverse kinematics solving for the selected controller. Quaternion IK will help any controller that suffers from gimbal lock and the controller will be displayed with a Q to indicate that Quaternion is active.

FUN FACT : Interesting side note: The quaternions are members of a noncommutative division algebra rst invented by William Rowan Hamilton. Set IK Target This function will allow one controller to drive another controllers motion. In other words, the currently selected controller drives the previously selected controller. The controller will be labelled with a T to indicate that Set IK Target has been applied. Choose Reset IK Target to remove the target setup from the controller. To change the values for Weight, Resistance, Spring, and Viscosity, simply left click and drag on the control. Dragging left will decrease the value while dragging right will increase the value. Weight Denes the weight of the controller. You can achieve heavy motions by increasing the Weight value, and you can create light motions by decreasing Weight.

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LightWave 9 - Layout On/Off This function will determine whether a controller will be affected by dynamic calculation. End Edit This function will take you out of Dynamic Edit mode. NOTE: Bone Dynamics must be active for these settings to be calculated.

Resistance Controls the amount of air resistance. Spring Controls the springiness or stiffness of the controller. Reducing the Spring coefcient creates soft motions, while raising Spring coefcient produces motions with a stronger repelling force. Setting the coefcient to an extremely large value creates stiff motions. Viscosity Controls the impact of a collision. A controller with a higher Viscosity value tends to keep its shape more. If a controller bounces, a higher Viscosity value will have less bounce motion because the Viscosity absorbs the bouncing force. Size This setting determines the area of inuence the controllers have. The image below shows various sizes on the controllers that make up the head and torso area of this character.

Controller Edit
This function will activate Controller Edit mode. While in Controller Edit Mode you can freely move the controllers by left clicking and dragging them to a location.

Left: Before Edit, Right: After Edit

Controller Edit Mode has several options that can be used to customise your Controller settings. Right click to bring up the Controller Options menu.

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on Controller Size. The selected and unselected controller size will be the same. End Edit This command will exit Controller Edit mode.

Channel Menu
Right clicking on an individual channel will bring up the Channel menu. Each channel can be congured independently.

Reset This function will reset the controllers back to its default setup. Float /Unoat This function toggles the controller between Float and Unoat. Float The controller moves along with the item.

Lock/ Unlock This function will lock and unlock a channel. When it is locked, the number is surrounded with (). UnFloat The item moves but the controller is anchored.

The Controllers Heading Channel is Locked

Size Mode This setting determines the size of the controller when it is selected. Size 1 Smallest selected size. Size 2 Medium selected size. Size 3 Largest selected size. Not Change The selected controller size will be based

Set/ Use Limit This function will limit the channels value range. When a channel has a limit, the number is surrounded with <>.

TThe Controllers Pitch channel has a limit.

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LightWave 9 - Layout NOTE: By default the limits are 180 to 180. This is not ideal in most cases so you will want to edit the limits. with a stronger repelling force. Setting the coefcient to an extremely large value creates stiff motions. Copy and Paste Use these commands to copy and paste settings between channels. Reset Limit This function sets the maximum and minimum settings of the limit to a present value. When Reset Limit is applied, you can edit the Maximun value by holding down the Ctrl key + left click and drag to the value that you want the limit to be set at. Reset Value This function will set the value of the channel to zero (0). This is very handy when you need to quickly set the channels value back to zero.

Edit Limit This command brings up the Edit Limits Panel.

You can independently limit heading, pitch, and bank rotations between maximum and minimum values. You can prevent actions like bending a leg backwards at the knee (unless youre animating a sports injury). To use the limiting feature, set the Min and Max values on the Edit Limits Panel. Setting rotation limits can be particularly important when using inverse kinematics. When setting the Min/Max Limits, you will see a visual guide in the viewport that represents the limits.

Add Link This command will add a Booster Link to the selected channel. The reference controller will be the last controller selected.

Graph Edit
This command will launch the Graph Editor with the selected Channel active.

NOTE: The maximum value must be greater than the minimum.

IK Booster Link
IK Booster Link can be used to link a channel from one controller to a channel in another controller. The Linked controller can be driven by the referenced control. This is very similar to how expressions can be used without writing any expressions.

Stiffness Controls the springiness or stiffness of the limit. Reducing the Stiffness coefcient creates soft motions, while raising the Stiffness coefcient produces motions

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NOTE: This option can be changed in the IK Booster Modier Panel under the Reference Ch drop down menu as well. Copy and Paste These commands will copy and paste Booster Link settings. Edit Graph This command will launch the Graph Editor.

Remove This command will remove the Booster Link Modier from the channel. Change Shift This function will adjust the motion of the linked controller at different times during the referenced controllers motion. To remove Change Shift from a channel, simply right click on the channel and choose Key Control.

NOTE: IK Booster Link will abide by any limits that have been set on the channel that is driving the current controller.

IK Booster Link Modier Options

Change Item This function will change the reference controller to the last controller selected. NOTE: This option can be changed in the IK Booster Modier Panel under the Reference Item drop down menu as well.

Change ch This command will allow you to change the channel that drives the selected controller.

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Reference Item This function will change the reference controller. The reference controller is what drives the linked controller. Reference Ch This command sets the channel of the Reference Item that drives the linked controller. Shift Frames Delays the linked motion by the number of frames specied. NOTE: Entering 5 moves the frames -5, and -10 moves it +10.

Move TCB Tool (default keyboard shortcut

Ctrl G )

The Move TCB tool (Modify> Move TCB) allows direct manipulation of Tension, Continuity and Bias in the main layout viewports. Use the input eld in the lower left hand corner or interactively drag in the viewport to change the settings.

Source Value This function sets the percentage between the minimum and maximum value of the referenced channel that will be used. Change Value This function will change the value of the selected channel.

Mouse Operations:
LMB - Tension Ctrl+LMB - Continuity RMB - Bias NOTE: With AUTOKEY OFF it will only allow you to adjust where a keyframe already exists. With AUTOKEY ON it will add a new keyframe, if you adjust where there isnt a keyframe already.

IKB Calculate (default keyboard shortcut

Ctrl X )

The IKB Calculate operation (Modify> IKB Calculate) is used to calculate IK Boosters Bone Dynamics and generate keyframes based off those calculations. A keyframe will be created on every frame much like motion-capture data. NOTE: Bone Dynamics need to be properly set up before this will work. Otherwise, clicking it causes an error.

TCB dened:
Tension causes an object in motion to slow down, or move a little bit less in each frame, as it nears the keyframe, and to accelerate as it passes the keyframe (-1 = low tension, 0 = normal tension, 1 = high tension). Without Tension (i.e., value of 0), the object would pass through the keyframe position at a constant speed. Positive values slow an item through a keyframe (ease-in) while negative values speed it up (ease-out).

NOTE: The IKB Calculate button will also calculate dynamic objects as well. For more information about IK Booster and Bone Dynamics see the IK Booster section.

Chapter 18: Rigging A high Tension value (1.0) is often used at the end of a ying logo move in order to make the logo come to a gradual stop. High Tension at the beginning of this move would have the logo start slowly, while a negative value would have the logo start quickly. Continuity accentuates a break or change in an objects graph (-1 = sharp , 0 = normal , 1 = smooth). Negative Continuity gives a sharper transition in the spline path at a keyframe, while positive Continuity gives a broader transition (sometimes over-continuous) through a keyframe. Negative Continuity is usually used to replicate a sharp change in motion such as that of a falling ball striking a oor and quickly reversing direction. You would rarely want to use a positive continuity this will cause an object to overcompensate as it passes through the keyframe and appear to stutter or roller coaster at the frame. Bias determines whether an items spline path leans to one side of a keyframe or the other (-1 = more slack incoming, 0 = equal slack, 1 = more slack outgoing). You accomplish this effect by moving the slack in the spline path to one side or the other of a keyframe. This serves to accentuate motion the incoming motion by undershooting the keyframe and creating a feeling of anticipation, or the outgoing motion by overshooting the keyframe. For example, a race car moving through a turn could use either a negative or a positive Bias setting to a) anticipate the turn with a negative Bias, or b) overshoot the turn with a positive Bias. Negative Bias values place the slack before the keyframe while positive Bias values place it after the keyframe. NOTE: You can also adjust TCB settings in the Graph Editor, under the Curves tab at the bottom of the panel.

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Chapter 19: Animating

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Animation
Now that you have reviewed cameras, lights, objects, rigs, and almost everything else you need set up in your scene, its time to discuss animation.

Keyframing
The way to tell the computer where an object be it camera, models or lights is at any given point is to use keyframes. Keyframes x an objects location and rotation for a given moment in time. Setting one at the start of your animation and one at the end means that LightWave will automatically interpolate between them for the duration of the animation. In fact it will create these in-between frames, called tweens, between every keyframe resulting in a uid animation. To get you started, lets create a piece of the easiest animation possible. Start LightWave and check to see if Auto Key, at the bottom of the interface window, is highlighted. If so, click on the button to turn Auto Key off. Add a null object by clicking on the Add > Null button (you can also use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl N). It will appear at 0, 0, 0. A requester will also open asking you to name the Null just accept the default Null and click OK.

Move the null away a bit. Weve moved it three meters left along the X-axis.

Hit the return key twice. You will see a window appear the rst time you hit return and be dismissed the second time.

Chapter 19: Animating Youve now set a keyframe for the start of the animation of your null.

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Move the slider at the bottom of the Layout viewport to the end of the slider range it will be at frame 60 by default.

Move the null along the X-axis again, this time to the right six meters.

Hit Return twice again to set a second key frame. You will see two things. The rst is that theres a line on frame 0 in the timeline under the Layout viewport (theres also one under the slider at frame 60 now, but it wont be as visible), the second is that theres a dotted line marking the path that the null object is taking. If you were to count the dots by hand, you would see that there were 60 dots, but just take our word for it. These mark frames along the way.

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LightWave 9 - Layout To make it slightly more interesting, stop the playback by hitting the pause button. Move the timeline slider to the middle of the timeline.

If you hit the play button just under the right-hand side of the Layout viewport you will now see your null moving across the screen and starting again when the slider reaches the end of the timeline. Congratulations! Youve made an animation. Its not exactly Disney calibre, but it is an animation.

Move the null upwards about four meters. You can do this by grabbing the arrow pointing upwards from the null, or by using the right mouse button.

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Hit the return key twice. Now when you press play again, you can see that LightWave has taken note of your changes and made the appropriate in-between frames for the motion to proceed smoothly.

Add some more keyframes (remember to press the Pause button). Create a real rollercoaster ride for the Null to take.

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LightWave 9 - Layout reposition the null, you also have the Rotate tool (keyboard shortcut: Y) and the Size and Stretch tools (keyboard shortcuts: Shift+ H and H). Youll nd all these tools on the Modify Tab. Normally speaking, LightWave doesnt work in seconds because motions tend to be too quick and seconds too coarse a measurement. It works in frames there are 25 to a second in PAL and 30 frames to a second in the NTSC TV system. For lm work, there are 24 frames to a second. Keep working on your simple animation until you start to feel the nulls pain at being forced to ride the rollercoaster one more time This is easy and youll be glad youve practised before things start getting harder.

When you want to check the nulls motion path, press play. When your viewport is in Perspective mode, if you use the navigation controls at the top right of the viewport, you can see how the animation looks from any angle. See something you dont like? Press pause, move the timeline slider to the frame you want to change and move the null. If you click on Auto Key to turn it back on, you will nd that dont even have to press the Return key twice to set the keyframes keyframes are created automatically when you move the object.

Navigating a Scene

All items in a LightWave scene can have independent keyframes while your null is getting sick on its rollercoaster ride, you can have the light in the scene changing direction and the camera following it around to make it even more disoriented. Even better, just because youve keyframed an objects heading, theres nothing to say that you cant keyframe its pitch and bank on different frames. Go back to our short tutorial and get everything and I mean everything: null, camera, light moving. Dont forget that in addition to the Move tool you used to

Just under the Layout viewport (or viewports) is the frame slider that weve already used for our exciting null animation. Although its main action is obvious, you also have the ability to change the range shown and also to pan through this range easily. To scrub through the frames you can move the slider with the mouse or you can use the cursor keys. Left and right move you through the frames one at a time, and holding down the shift key at the same time moves you to the previous or next keyframe. If you hold down the alt key while you move the slider with the mouse you will pan the frame range this means that you will keep the same number of frames on the slider, but the start and end points will change accordingly. If, for instance, you had a 500 frames long animation, the amount of action would cause the detail in the frame slider to be confused. But if you set the end frame to a 100, you can then pan through the other 400 frames of your animation, so this 100 frames could show the range between 0-100, or 357-457, as you like.

Chapter 19: Animating NOTE: You can also jump to a specic frame in your scene by hitting the F key on the keyboard, which will bring up a requester where you can enter a frame number.

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Creating Keyframes
As weve already learned, objects are always loaded at the Origin. This is the center of Layouts grid: 0, 0, 0 and every new item will have a default keyframe for frame 0 here. If you never create another keyframe for an item, it will stay at this default location throughout the animation. NOTE: Frame 0 is the default starting point, but you can create keys at frames at less than 0, if you need to.

Playing a Scene

Under the transport controls for the scene, you will see two playback arrows and a Pause button, and under that a step counter. The playback arrows allow you to playback the scene in either direction while the step counter allows you to set how many of the scenes frames you wish to see played back. Setting this counter to 1 will play every frame, setting it to 2 will play every other frame, and so on. WARNING: Make sure your scene is not playing back before you move anything. If you have AutoKey on, you will end up with keyframes all through the animation.

As we saw in the tutorial at the start of this section, we pressed the return key twice. A window appeared but was dismissed by us hitting the return key the second time. Lets go in for a closer look at this window.

NOTE: Your playback speed will vary depending on the complexity of your scene, object display mode, system capabilities and so on. Reducing the size of your Layout window can dramatically increase playback speed.

By default the Create Key At eld will contain the current frame. You can change the frame number to create the key - using the animation channel values for the current frame - at a different frame by entering a different frame number here. This is a good way to copy a keyframe. You can also re-pose your item and create a new key over an old one. The For pop-up menu has several options. You can create keys for: Selected Items All items that are selected, which will always include the current item. Generally, this will be the one you use the most. Current Item Only Only the current item, even if others are selected. Current Item and Descendants The current item and any child items.

HINT: If the Hub active, you can modify an object in Modeler even while your scene is being played back in Layout and the object will automatically update to reect the changes you make.

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LightWave 9 - Layout HINT: A good way to get familiar with this feature is to set Auto Key Create to Off and leave Auto Key active in the General Options requester (keyboard shortcut: O). This setting means that existing keys will update automatically if you adjust them, but new keyframes are not automatically created if you move, rotate, size or stretch an item. You can use the Undo function if you make a mistake when adjusting a keyframe.

All Items All items in the scene. Beware that this is not limited to just items of the same type. A key will be created using the current Animation Channel settings for all objects, bones, lights, and cameras. The dialogs for creating motion keyframes for scene items have three rows of Toggle buttons. This lets you create animation channel keys independently. The Position, Rotation and Scale buttons allow a row to be turned on or off with one click. All channels are enabled by default and their state is remembered. NOTE: Keys created using the Create Motion Key dialog use the Graph Editor s Default Incoming Curve type, discussed later. Generally, we suggest you use TCB Splines and not Bezier Splines. Bezier tangents are determined at the moment of creation and dont automatically adjust as new keys are created. This can cause awkward movement through keys.

Editing Motion Paths Directly in a Viewport

You can also move an items motion path directly in a viewport using the Move Motion Path tool (Modify > Translate: Move Path).

Creating and Modifying Keys Automatically

The Move Path tool allows you to shift your completed motion path for an item, keeping all the keys in the same places relatively. Lets say you had a very complicated scene, it would be useful to be able to move to an empty portion, create the motion path for your object and then move it into place. With Move Path, thats exactly what you can do.

To automatically create or modify keys you must activate the Auto Key option on the main interface. This is the global on/off switch for automatically creating keyframes. It works in conjunction with the Auto Key Create setting (General Options Tab of the Preferences Panel). Auto Key is a time-saving feature for advanced users and can be very useful for quickly roughing out a motion path; however, beginners may want to stick with creating keys manually. Most of the exercises in the manuals assume that Auto Key is not active. Make sure you are always aware of the status of Auto Key and Auto Key Create. These options can result in an animation with extraneous keyframes.

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To delete a keyframe:
Step 1: Select the item. Normally, you will also go to the keyframe you wish to delete. Step 2: Click the Delete Key button or press the Del key. Step 3: The Delete Motion Key dialog will appear. It uses all of the same controls previously described for the Create Motion Key dialog.

Another tool in the Modify menu will directly affect your motion path. At the bottom of the Modify list you will nd Move TCB. This allows you to set the biases discussed in the Graph Editor section of the manual, but from Layout, rather than having to visit the Graph Editor itself. To use it, move to a keyframe, click on the Move TCB tool and you will notice that the lower left corner now displays T, C, B instead of the more familiar X, Y, Z or H, P, B. You can enter gures in here for what you wish your TCB settings to be, or you can use the mouse: LMB: Moving left and right alters the Tension Ctrl+LMB: Moving left and right controls the Continuity RMB: Moving left and right controls the Bias

Delete Motion Key Plugin

Deleting Keyframes
You delete keyframes in the same way you create them.

Use the TMP Motify Delete Motion Key generic plugin (Utilities > Additional > Motify) to delete keyframes, clear motions, delete ranges of keys, delete keys within a threshold, and more. Motify can be used to completely replace the built-in Delete Key dialog.

To use Motify:
Step 1: Select the item(s) you want to delete keyframes

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LightWave 9 - Layout The Position, Rotation and Scale buttons allow a row to be turned on or off with one click. Only the selected channels will be processed. You can Shift click to invert a groups selection state. The All Other Channels button is a powerful feature, but can cause a lot of damage to your scene if used incorrectly. All non-motion channels will also be processed (the Position, Rotation and Scale buttons still determine if the motion channels are processed). This includes all envelopes applied to those items (like Camera Zoom Factor and Light Intensity), envelopes for applied plugins (such as Morph Mixer channels), and surface envelopes applied in the Surface Editor. Use this feature carefully, especially when deleting keys on multiple items at once. The About button will open an informational dialog, including a list of keyboard shortcuts.

from. Normally, you will also go to the keyframe you wish to delete. Step 2: Run Motify Step 3: Choose a Delete mode. Step 4: Enter a range of keys in the Delete Keys From and Through input elds. Step 5: Enter a Threshold. Step 6: Choose a For mode. Step 7: Enable or disable channels Step 8: Click OK. NOTE: Many of the above steps are optional. For example, to simply delete a keyframe at the current time (using the previous For mode), run Motify and click OK. The For pop-up menu determines which objects will have their keys deleted and has several options. You can delete keys for: Selected Items All items that are selected, which will always include the current item. Generally, this will be the option you use the most. Selected Items and Descendants The selected items and any child items. Current Item Only Only the current item, even if others are selected. Current Item and Descendants The current item and any child items. All Items All items in the scene. Beware that this is not limited to just items of the same type.

Delete Mode
The Delete Mode determines what is done to the items motion. The default mode, Delete Key, deletes the key at the frame entered in the (Delete Keys) From eld. Both integer and fractional keyframe values can be entered. The Threshold eld can be used to determine how close a keyframe has to be to the dened frame to be deleted. This is useful for deleting fractional keyframes when Allow Fractional Current Frame is disabled on the General Options Tab of the Preferences Panel. Delete Keys Within Range will delete all keyframes between and including the From and Through frames. The Threshold setting, in this case, will extend the range lower and higher - all keys within the range will be deleted. Delete Keys Outside Range will delete all keyframes outside, but not including, the From and Through frames. Threshold is not used in this mode, as it only applies when the end frames are also deleted. Delete Keys Before Range deletes all keyframes before,

Chapter 19: Animating but not including, the From frame. Similarly, Delete Keys After Range deletes all keys after, but not including, the Through frame. With Clear Motion, all existing keyframes will be deleted. This will only clear the channels marked at the bottom of the dialog. If all keyframes become deleted in any of these modes, a new default keyframe is created at frame 0 with a position and rotation of 0.0 on all axes, and a scale of 1.0.

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Protect First Key and Protect Last Key will keep you from deleting the rst or last key in the channel, respectively.

Saving and Loading Motion Files

Threshold
Threshold determines how close a keyframe has to be to the From and Through frame numbers in order to be deleted. The default value of 0.0 means that the key must exactly match the frame numbers entered. A value of 0.1 means that any keyframe within 0.1 frames will be deleted. For example, if you are trying to delete keyframe 20 with a Threshold of 0.1, all keys between 19.9 and 20.1 will be deleted. A value of 0.5 can be used to ensure that any fractional keys between the current frame and the next or previous frames are deleted without going into the domain of the next keyframe. The small pop-up menu to the right of the Threshold input eld contains a number of reasonable presets values.

To save the selected items motion path to a le, choose File > Save > Save Motion File. Use the lename extension .mot when saving a motion le. Mac users should note that this extension is not automatically added you must type it as part of the le name and then save the le. To load a saved motion le and apply it to the selected item, choose File > Load > Load Motion File. NOTE: Modelers Path Extrude and Path Clone commands use these les to execute their operations.

Protection
The Protection pop-up menu can be used to ensure that certain important keyframes are not deleted. This is especially useful when using the Delete Keys Outside Range or Clear Motion modes, where deleting all keyframes could ruin your scene or destroy your characters bone setup and IK poses. No Protection means that no keyframes will be protected from deletion. This allows you to delete any keyframe. Protect Frame 0 will ensure that no keys at frame 0 are deleted. Similarly, Protect Neg & 0 will protect frame 0 and all negative keyframes.

DopeTrack
If youve noticed, just above the time slider that shows all the frames in a LightWave scene there is a thick bar. Clicking on this seems to open a new time slider, its actually a tool called the DopeTrack, to help the workow of animators. The DopeTrack allows you to play with keys. Not only

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LightWave 9 - Layout the lines representing the keys are simple pale yellow lines, but if you click the right mouse button over the DopeTrack, a menu will pop-up where you can enter Channel Edit Mode, where the three channels that make up a keyframes X, Y and Z coordinates are represented by the red, green and blue lines. If you are in Rotate Mode the red, green and blue represent the Heading, Pitch and Bank channels. If you turn off some of the channels over on the left, you can then select just the channels you wish to move. If this were all DopeTrack could do, it would be enough, but theres more. A right click on the DopeTrack itself will reveal a menu that gives even more options.

their position in time and the scene, but also to alter their properties. You can set up markers here to tell you when things should happen in the scene and bake ranges of keys to set your animation from frame to frame.

Youll notice that when the DopeTrack is closed and your mouse pointer is over the thick bar, your mouse pointer will change from being a cross hair to an arrow pointing upwards. When DopeTrack is open and the mouse is over the thick bar, it will be a downwards-pointing arrow. Whats the point of DopeTrack? Lets say you have an animation and theres a keyframe at frame 13 that you really want at frame 12. You could open the Graph Editor and move the keys there. If you have a lot of items in your scene, it may take a while to nd the object you want to edit. Lets say youve moved this frame, but then your boss decides he wants an identical keyframe a bit later in the animation say ten frames on. Then, being the indecisive management type he is, he wants to have those two keyframes moved along a bit in the animation. You could do this in the Graph Editor, but instead, you can just sit there nonchalantly, with a breezy no problem, boss! and just use the DopeTrack When you rst open the DopeTrack it just looks like another timeline, only with darker numbers. The difference is that you can grab any keys on the DopeTrack and shift them about. Moreover you can grab a section of the timeline and any keyframes in that area will be selected. You will then be able to move all the selected keyframes at once. By default,

Select All Keys

Selects all the keyframes visible on the timeline

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Clear Selection
Deselects all selected keyframes

although there is no limit on the quantity of characters you can put in the Set Marker Text window.

Add Marker
This adds a marker to your timeline that is visible no matter which item you have selected in the scene. You can also set a text that appears in the normal info window under the timeline. You can select this menu item, or you can hold down the shift key and double click to set a marker. You can set a marker anywhere on the DopeTrack, regardless of the location of the timeline cursor.

Baking
If you right click and drag a selection on the DopeTrack this menu option will become available to you. Baking allows you to generate keyframes at every frame over the region you specify, to make sure of your animation or for export to another package.

Delete Marker
Position the timeline cursor on a marker and this option becomes available. You can set a local or global bake zone. A local one bakes the current item and is shown in the same color as the keyframe markers on the DopeTrack, whereas a global bake zone will bake all items through those keyframes and is shown in blue. You can resize a bake zone by dragging the arrows at either end of it to make it shorter or longer, or move it in time by dragging on the line between them. You can also hold down the Alt key and LMB drag on the time line and this will create a local bake zone immediately. There will be no need to even use the menu to set it. Either way, when you have selected a zone to bake, the next thing is to know exactly what baking means. It means that you will create a keyframe at every frame in the zone youve selected. This sets in concrete your motion path, which can be useful if you have something precise to follow, or you need to export your motion to another application, like a game engine, for instance. Game engines dont usually like IK, so by baking the motion your character goes through; you can replicate the effects of using inverse kinematics, without actually using it.

Clear All Markers

Clears all the Markers you have placed on the DopeTrack.

Set Marker Text

Put your timeline cursor on a marker and it will become bright yellow and this menu item will become available. A marker is visible whichever item you select it is based on the scene rather than an individual item. Whenever the time slider is on the frame where a marker is placed, and the DopeTrack is open, the marker will light up in bright yellow and the Marker text will appear in the status window. There is a limit of 62 characters visible in this status window,

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NOTE: If you have local bake zone(s) marked, but want to clear them, you can choose Clear Current Zone from the Baking sub-menu by right clicking on the DopeTrack again. Clear All Zones will remove both local and global zones.

We now have our baked keys, lets move onto the Apply sub-menus. All three Apply sub-menus use the rst and last keyframe in a range as boundaries, and the keyframe that the slider is currently sitting on as a control point. The slider should be sitting inside the baked range. First, heres our scene before a bake of the motion:

Now, heres the scene with the various Applies applied. Remember the shape that results depends on the position of the frame slider. For demonstration purposes we will continue to leave ours on 42, even if the results could be more dramatic with it elsewhere. Also to be noted is that if you dont like the results of a particular Apply, you can change it for one of the others with no penalty. However, you cant go back to the previous un-Applyed state, so make sure you save your scene before you use the Applys

Heres our scene after a bake:

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Soft Apply
In the case of Soft Apply, a Hermite spline using default Hermite co-efcients is generated using these three keyframes as points to smooth out the intervening keyframes.

Flat Apply
Snaps all intervening keyframes to the value of the control keyframe (the one the slider is currently on). NOTE: To get rid of a set of baked keyframes, select them all by wiping over them using the left mouse button to select them all and then click the right mouse button to access the Delete Keys menu item the Del key will bring up the Delete Keys window that will force you to delete the keys one by one.

DopeTrack_Apply Zones
The Apply Zones in Dope Track have now been enhanced with color for improved navigation. The new zones use a CYM (Cyan, Yellow, Magenta) color scheme.

Linear Apply
Linear Apply uses the same keyframes, but simply increments the keyframe values between the control points. Local Zones are represented with Cyan. Global Zones are represented with Magenta. Proxy Zones, such as IK Booster, are represented in Yellow.

Snap Keys
If you have received a scene that uses fractional frames, but you dont want to use all or part of those keys, you can select the keys that are off-integer frame numbers that you wish to adjust, and use Snap Keys to quantise them to the nearest whole frame number.

Cut, Copy, Paste Keys

As you might expect, these allow you to move keys around the scene by cutting or copying them from where they are, and pasting them where you want them. If a group of keys are selected and you copy them, you will paste them starting at the time slider position.

Add and Delete Keys

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The Add function will create a keyframe in the DopeTrack where the mouse is at the time, so if you have an item at frame 10 in the scene and you Add key at frame 40, it will duplicate your objects position from frame 10 at frame 40.

BioVision Motion Capture Support

LightWave provides a couple of plugins to support the BioVision (BVH) motion capture le format. The MoCap_ BVH_Setup generic Layout plugin (File > Import > MoCap_BVH_Setup) reads a BioVision BVH le, creates bones, and applies the motion capture data to them. For any use of Motion Capture les, you will need to have AutoKey (Shift F1) enabled. Set Start Frame Offset to the frame you want the motion to begin. Bone Scale Factor allows you to set a scale for your object from the start and may need some repeated experiments to get close to the scale of your object. Often BVH les come in at an extremely large scale. As a start, try a scale of 0.1. The Bone Name Postx is simply a number appended to the end of all of the bone names (e.g., LeftKnee_1). After you run the plugin, replace the top null (in the created bone hierarchy) with the object to be animated. You could also use the Use Bones From Object feature on the Bones Properties Panel.

Channel-edit Mode

By default, the keyframe marks in DopeTrack are the same shade of yellow as the keyframes in the normal time slider. By switching to Channel-edit Mode you can choose individual channels by turning off the ones you do not wish to select in the bottom left-hand corner of the Layout window. When you switch back to Keyframe edit mode, any channels you have separated in time will become new keyframe lines in their own right.

Once youve shifted the channels separately, new keys appear in the normal timeline.

If you need to change the initial resting position of bones, make sure you reset their rest positions (use the r key). Youll probably need to adjust some of the individual bone properties after you run the plugin. Applying motion capture to a LightWave object is an arduous process fraught with difculties but yields good results.

Turn off individual channels to move the remaining keys where you want them. NOTE: You can combine the keyboard and mouse to make DopeTrack even easier to use: Alt LMB copies a keyframe LMB doubleclick creates a keyframe Shift LMB doubleclick creates a marker Alt LMB Drag creates a local zone for baking

MoCapSkelegons is a Modeler plugin that creates skelegons in Modeler that match the initial rest position of the Biovision BVH data. Use it to determine the correct scale, position, etc. for your object mesh. This object can then be used with the bones created using the MoCap_ BVH_Setup generic plugin in Layout.

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Motion Preview
There is also a custom object plugin that can be used to preview BioVision motion data. The preview is fast and accurate. Use it to determine if there were any errors in the motion conversion. Simply add the MotionCapturePreview custom object to a null object on the Object Properties Panel. (If you run the MoCap_BVH_Setup generic Layout plugin, a null called MotionCapturePreviewNull will automatically be added to the scene with the custom object plugin already applied.)

If you click the Save button, you can save the list of Affected Channels into a text le. You should use the le extension .lw_channels. The le contains just a straight list of the channels, like: Position.X Position.Y Position.Z Rotation.H Rotation.P Rotation.B Scale.X Scale.Y Scale.Z You may replace the list of Affected Channels with the channels listed in a text le using the Load button. Clicking the Default button returns the list of Affected Channels to the default ones.

Keyframer
Keyframer is essentially a collection of keyframing utilities. Its functions can be applied to currently selected items or dened by an external text le. You can even save and load frame and motion data. To use Keyframer, choose Utilities > Plugins > Additional > Keyframer. The functions are divided into three different tabs on the panel: Standard, Transfer, and Other.

Affected Objects What is affected

When you choose certain functions, the Select Range and Objects Panel will appear. Here, you set which range of frames, scene items, and channels to affect. All operations only modify items listed in the Affected Channels and Affected Objects lists. The Start and End values dene the range of frames that will be affected. The Affected Objects list will default to the currently selected item(s) in Layout. You can list all scene items by clicking the All button. If you click the Save button, you can save the list of Affected Objects into a text le. You should use the le extension .lw_items. It will be just a straight list of the scene items, like: Null (1) Null (2) Light Camera You may replace the list of Affected Objects with the scene items listed in a text le using the Load button.

Affected Channels
The Affected Channels list shows all of the channels that will be affected by operations. You may remove a channel by selecting it with your mouse and then clicking the Remove button.

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LightWave 9 - Layout value is added to existing key values. If Multiply is used, the existing key values are multiplied by the entered value(be careful using 0!). The Overwrite method replaces existing key values with the entered values.

The Use selected objects only option, will cause the list to only show the item(s) currently selected in Layout. The Include all subchildren option will cause all children of the listed items to be shown. If Use custom loaded is enabled, all of the items in the Affected Objects list will be affected. Otherwise the list is always dynamically determined by what is selected in Layout, what the children are, and so on.

Transfer Tab Standard Tab

Choose Cycle (Bake) Keys Keys within the range are copied and pasted after the End frame plus the Cycle Gap. The copy is repeated by the number times set with the Repeats slider. Destroy Keys Keys within the range are deleted. Defractionalize Fractional keys within the range are rounded to the nearest integer value. Create Random Keys Creates new randomly spaced keyframes between the Start to End range. The animation curve should maintain its shape, if possible. Random/Jitter Keys This adds noise (i.e., jitter) to existing keyframes between the Start to End range. MoveRotateScale Modies the position, rotation, and/or scale of items. If the Add method is used, the entered Node-to-Node Frame Copy Copies the Position, Rotation, and/or Scale of the Source to the Target at the current frame. If the Use World co-ordinate Copy option is enabled, the target will take on the world space values of the source (i.e., not the local values). Note that you will still need to create a key with the copied values. Node-to-Node Motion Copy Copies the entire motion of the Source to the Target. (This is the same as saving and loading a motion le.) If All descendants is enabled, all descendants of both the Source and Target will be used and modied. If you are using All descendants, the Source and Target hierarchies should be identical or results will be unpredictable. Load Single Frame data Use this function to load the motion data saved with the Save Single Frame data function. Note that the position and rotation channels are loaded regardless of what appears in the Affected Channels list. Also, it will only affect the same item (when the data was saved)-that item must be in the Affected Objects list.

Chapter 19: Animating Save Single Frame data This function will save all of the motion data for the Affected Objects at the current frame. Note that the position and rotation channels are saved regardless of what appears in the Affected Channels list. The le should be saved with the .lw_ frame lename extension. Load Clip data Use this function to load the motion data saved with the Save Clip data function. Use the Start and End sliders to trim data. Regardless of the Start and End, the range is always copied in starting at frame 0. Note that the item must have the same name as the item used to save the data. Save Clip data This function will save all of the motion data for the Affected Objects for a dened range of frames. Note that all channels are saved regardless of what appears in the Affected Channels list. The les are saved to a directory you specify. Only the data at actual keys within the range is saved. If the start of your range is not a key, the data for the next key (in time) is used. Keys retain their position in time even if you dont save starting from frame 0.

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Key All Morphs Sets keys in every MorphMixer channel at the current frame for items with MorphMixer. UnKey All Morphs Deletes keys in every MorphMixer channel at the current frame for items with MorphMixer. Reset All Morphs Sets key values to zero in every MorphMixer channel at the current frame for items with MorphMixer.

Modify Tab
Translate
Move (default keyboard shortcut T )
When you move an (unparented and unrotated) item in Layout, generally your mouse movements have the following effects: Movement Left/Right LMB Up/Down LMB Fwd/Back(3D*) Left/Right RMB Move Left/Right Up/Dn(orthogonal) Up/Down

*3D=Perspective, Light, and Camera views NOTE: For parented and rotated items, see also the subsequent discussion on Coordinate System. You generally use a viewports arbitrary horizontal and vertical axes to adjust an items position (Move tool). As such, no matter how much you have rotated a Perspective view, dragging your mouse left or right will always move the item left or right on your display. Dragging your LMB

Other Tab
Dissolve This function adds keys to the Object Dissolve channel (Object Properties, Render Tab). The object will be 100% dissolved at the Start frame up until the End frame, where it becomes 0% dissolved. UnDissolve This function is the opposite of Dissolve, described above.

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left/right in the Right view would move an object along the Z axis. The same mouse movement in the Back view would move it along the X axis.

Local Axis Adjustments

Sometimes you may want to move an item using its local axes instead. You can do this by simply holding the CTRL key as you drag. The movement will be along the objects local axis, no matter what view you use (or how much you rotate the item). Movement (Ctrl) Left/Right LMB Up/Down LMB Left/Right RMB Move X axis Z axis Y axis

Pivot Point (Shown selected with handles)

Moving the Pivot Point

You can modify the pivot point from its default position in Layout or Modeler. Think of this as giving an offset amount from the objects local Origin. When you move the pivot point, the object will appear to stay in the same position. On the face of it, this might seem confusing to you; if the pivot point is the point used to reference position, the object should move if the pivot point is moved. The reason the object doesnt move is because LightWave automatically adjusts the objects position by the same amount the pivot point is moved.

Move Pivot
WARNING: Understanding pivot points is fundamental to understanding LightWave. The pivot point is a point of reference used for all objects and does not correspond to any point used in an objects geometry. The pivot point is the center of position, rotation, and scaling. By default, it is located at the objects local Origin. The pivot point, a small yellow star, becomes visible when you select an object.

To move the pivot point in Modeler:

Select View> Pivot to activate the Pivot Point tool and move the crosshairs to a new position in any viewport. NOTE: The Modeler section of this manual has additional info about moving the pivot point in the section on Modelers View Tab.

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To move the pivot point in Layout:

Step 1: Select the object. Step 2: Select Modify > Translate: Move Pivot. Step 3: Move the pivot point as you would any item in the Layout. (If you select the Move tool and look at the objects Position settings, you will see that they have been changed to compensate for the movement in the pivot point the object will not visibly move.) NOTE: We strongly suggest that you leave an object at its default rotation and scale before you move its pivot point in Layout or you may get unpredictable results.

rotations. To do the latter, you need to move the pivot points to the center of each piece. A robot is another good example. The arms, legs, feet, torso, etc., are all separate objects, each modelled in their natural resting position in Modeler. However, all parts must be rotatable around a unique axis. This is possible only by moving the pivot points of each object.

Layout or Modeler
Setting the pivot point in Modeler saves its position in the object le. Setting it in Layout only saves the data in the scene le. As such, it is usually best to set your pivot point position in Modeler.

Why Move the Pivot Point?

You might be wondering why you might want to move the pivot point. Why not just model all objects so that the Origin is the desired center of rotation? Well, you certainly could do this and should probably try to do this as much as possible. However, there are often circumstances when multiple objects are just parts of a larger element. You want the individual parts to be positioned in their respective locations by default. But you may want to rotate them individually, around their own center point. Lets take puzzle pieces for example, where all of the pieces y in to form the complete puzzle. If you modelled each piece centerd around the Origin, it would be a real pain to move each piece perfectly into its nal resting place. It would be much easier to load each piece by default at its resting position and then set arbitrary starting positions and

Pivot Point moved so that rotation is at the Knee.

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Move Path
You can move an items entire motion path directly in a viewport using the Move Motion Path tool (Modify > Translate: Move Path).

Path Tool (default keyboard shortcut

Ctrl Y )

The Path Tool (Modify > Translate: Path Tool) will allow you to directly edit the current items motion path, right in a Layout viewport. To use, simply activate the Path tool and drag any of the current items keys. The perfect tool for tweaking an items motion path.

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Green Handles on motion path represent each Keyframe. NOTE: The key will only move along the vertical and horizontal axes of the view, even in perspective.

Heading, Pitch, Bank

Add to Position
You can numerically add to Position values by using Add to Position (Modify> Add to Position). It works like editing the Position input elds in the lower-left corner of Layout, but adds to the existing values instead of replacing them.

When you rotate an item, your mouse movements have the following effects: Movement Left/Right LMB Up/Down LMB Left/Right RMB Rotate Heading Pitch Bank

Rotate
Rotate (default keyboard shortcut Y )
When you adjust rotation, in contrast to adjusting position, the action is relative to the global axes around the items pivot point. By default, the pivot point is at the items local Origin. Rotation uses a similar three-coordinate system: Heading, Pitch, and Bank. (These are rotations around each of the axes: Y, X, and Z, respectively.) You can think of heading as the movement in shaking your head no. Pitch is like the movement in shaking your head yes. Bank is like the movement of tilting your head left and right .

Rotate Pivot

WARNING: Understanding pivot points is fundamental to understanding LightWave. The pivot point is a point of reference used for all objects and does not correspond to any point used in an objects geometry. The pivot point is the center of position, rotation, and scaling. By default, it is located at the objects local Origin. The pivot point, a small yellow star, becomes visible when you select an object.

NOTE: You cannot animate the pivot point.

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LightWave 9 - Layout

Add to Rotation
You can numerically add to Rotation values by using Add to Rotation (Modify> Rotate: Add to Rotation). It works like editing the input elds in the lower-left corner of Layout, but adds to the existing values instead of replacing them.

Transform
Pivot Point (Shown selected with handles)

Rotating the Pivot Point

You can rotate the pivot point, which sets a starting point for rotation that is different from the default rotation, which is in alignment with world coordinates. HINT: Pivot rotation is most useful when used with bones. You may want to stick with normal item rotation for other rotational needs.

Size (default keyboard shortcut

Shift H )

You can scale an object (but not Distant lights, Point lights, Spotlights or cameras) using the Size tool (Modify> Transform: Size). Size scales your object proportionately along all axes around its pivot point.

NOTE: Unlike the Move Pivot tool, which changes the position values, when you use the Rotate Pivot tool, it does not compensate with changes to rotation values. If you have rotated an object and wish to transfer its current rotational state to the pivot rotation, choose Setup > Orientation > Record Pivot Rotation, which runs the Record Pivot Rotation command. Then you can start all over as far as rotating the item is concerned. It will add the rotations to any existing values for pivot rotation.

NOTE: Linear and Area Lights can be Scaled.

Chapter 19: Animating When you Size an object, it is scaled equally along all axes. Dragging left will make it smaller and dragging right will make it bigger. NOTE: Linear and Area Lights can be squashed.

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Stretch (default keyboard shortcut H )

You can Stretch an object (but not Distant lights, Point lights, Spotlights or cameras) using the Stretch function (Modify > Transform: Stretch). Stretch lets you scale each axis of an object independently around its pivot point. NOTE: Linear and Area Lights can be stretched. Increased size for these types of lights also changes the softness of

shadows.

When you Stretch an object, your mouse movements affect the following axes: Movement Left/Right LMB Up/Down LMB Left/Right RMB Stretch X axis Z axis Y axis

Use the handles shown to perform a squash operation.

Add to Scale
You can numerically add to Scale values by using Add to Scale (Modify> Transform: Add to Scale). It works like editing the input elds in the lower-left corner of Layout, but adds to the existing values instead of replacing them.

Squash
The Squash tool (Modify> Transform: Squash) is similar to the Stretch tool; however, when one of the scale channels is modied, the other two channels are automatically adjusted to preserve the objects volume. Squash lets you scale each axis of an object independently around its pivot point.

General
Coordinate System
The Coordinate System setting (Modify > General: Coord System) affects the Move, Rotate, and Move Pivot Point tools.

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LightWave 9 - Layout

World (default keyboard shortcut

Shift F5 )

World allows easy movement based on the world axes, even for items deep within a hierarchy that contain rotated parents.

Parent (default keyboard shortcut

Shift F6 )

Parent is for movement based on the axes of an items parent(s). If an item has no parent then this setting is equivalent to World.

Local (default keyboard shortcut

Shift F7)

Local is for movement based on an items own axes (such as dollying a rotated camera along its view direction). For un-rotated items it is equivalent to Parent. Local can be temporarily activated by holding Ctrl. Below, we have rotated a null and then parented a distant light to it. The Show Handles option, discussed later, is also active for illustration purposes. The handles will line up with the movement axes that would be used if you dragged your mouse.

Parent

Local

Note how with World, the handles line up with the lines on the grid. With Parent, the handles line up with the rotated (parented) null. Finally, with Local, the handles line up with the distant lights rotation. NOTE: The Position and Rotation Coordinate System settings are independent. To change the system, select either the Move or Rotate tool rst.

World

Chapter 19: Animating NOTE: One thing to remember about Local and World rotation is that they are only for interactive manipulation. Internally, the Parent system is always used since its the only one that can encode absolute rotation values. This will affect how an items orientation is interpolated between two keyframes. As such, rotating the pivot point might still be useful in some situations.

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NOTE: If you have Position or Rotation axes deactivated, Reset will have no effect on those settings.

Tools
Light Intensity (default keyboard shortcut
Ctrl H )

Avoiding Gimbal Lock

Gimbal lock normally occurs after you rotate an item 90 degrees on its pitch using the Parent coordinate system. Once this has occurred, rotating the object about either its heading or its bank axis gives you the same resultyou have lost the ability to rotate about the objects local heading. Gimbal lock is commonly a problem with bones in a hierarchy. By nature, bones have a starting position that is often rotated 90 degrees on their pitch, like bones in the arm of a human gure. You can avoid Gimbal lock by rotating using the Local coordinate system.

Selecting a light, or several for that matter, and using this tool allows you to adjust light intensity interactively by holding down the LMB and moving the mouse left and right. Feedback is given down in the bottom left corner as usual. If you adjust more than one light at once, the feedback area reports how one is being adjusted, but all that are selected are adjusted equally. Make sure you multi-select with the shift key rather than making a banding box.

Sliders (default keyboard shortcut

Ctrl D )

Reset
You can quickly reset position and rotation to their initial states by selecting the item, activating the channel you wish to reset (i.e., Move, Rotate, Size, and other tools), and then clicking Modify > Reset. Each function must be reset individually. NOTE: If you plan to move a pivot point, you should reset the items position and rotation rst. Reset is not an undo feature, although it can sometimes work similarly. Resetting restores the state for the selected channels to what it was when the item was rst loaded or created.

Sliders (Modify> Tools: Sliders) are slider gadgets that are displayed over viewports. An individual slider is tied to a specic animation channel. A slider will indicate the current value of a channel and also let you interactively adjust that channel value. Sliders are useful for all kinds of animations, especially character animations. A good example can be an animated hand, with multiple bone movements for multiple ngers.

To use sliders in a scene:

Add the Sliders custom object (Object Properties Panel) to any object.

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LightWave 9 - Layout The left window (Channels List) will list all of the channels in the scene. To attach a slider to a channel, simply select the channel in the left window and click Add Channel. Selected channels in the right window can be removed with the Remove Channel button. The Range Min and Range Max settings dene the interactive range of the slider. The underlying channel can go beyond these values, but the sliders range of control and feedback will be limited to this range. If the underlying channel goes outside the range, the slider value will turn red. Clicking on the slider handle will immediately change the channel to the sliders corresponding value. The description Label will default to the channel name, but you may edit that if you desire. You can also set the color used for the slider with the Color preset pop-up menu or specic RGB values.

To display and interact with the sliders, choose Modify > Sliders. The sliders for the last current object (with the Sliders custom object) will be editable when the Sliders tool is active. Keep this in mind if you have more than one object with the Sliders custom object. NOTE: Remember, as with all Layout tools, youll need to select another tool (Move, Rotate, etc.) to deactivate the Slider tool.

Working with OpenGL Sliders:

To congure your sliders:

Open the Sliders Custom Object settings dialog from the Object Properties Panel.

There are three controls along the top. Drag the far-left one to move the slider group. The Envelope (E) button will display the Graph Editor with the associated channels in the curve bin. The right/left arrowhead (<>) button can be dragged to scale the size of the slider group. The arrowhead button on the right will minimise/maximise the slider display. NOTE: To simplify using sliders, use the Add Slider Bank generic plugin command (Not assigned to the interface by default). It will add a null object, apply the sliders custom object to it, and open the sliders interface, all in one step.

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Spline Control
The Spline Control Tool (Modify>Tools: Spline Control) is a simple way to animate hoses, tentacles, etc. using a spline with control handles. This tool will create a spline the length of the object with a user specied amount of control points that can be used to deform an object.

Step 2: Activate under deformations, SplineControl.

Step 3: Double Click one Spline Control to open the Options Panel.

To use Spline Control:

Step 1: Select the object that you would like to animate with Spline Control.

Step 4: Choose how many nodes you want (you can change this later) and other options.

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LightWave 9 - Layout Create Key When Auto Key Create is not active use this to create a keyframe. NOTE: Hitting Enter on the keyboard will not set a keyframe for a control point. Set Rest Shape Use this to change the default rest position of the control points in relationship to the object.

Step 5: Use the Spline Control button (Modify>Spline Control) to activate and move the nodes around.

Spline Control Options:

Reset This function works like undo, however instead of just undoing the last move it will reset all control points to their rest position. Allow Stretch When this option is activated the object is able to be stretched past its original scale.

Left: Allow Stretch OFF, Right: Allow Stretch ON

Control Points This eld will determine the number of control handles that will be generated. NOTE: Each control point will be numbered starting from 0. This number will appear in OpenGL. Objects Axis Denes the axis the control spline will be drawn on. Auto Key Create Similar to Layouts standard Auto Key in that it will automatically create a keyframe as you move a control point. The only difference is that it will always create when on frame zero regardless of whether or not this option is active.

Scale by Weight Map This option will use the Weight Map selected and only deform that area of the mesh.

Edit Tool (default keyboard shortcut

Ctrl E )

The Edit tool (Modify> Tools: Edit Tool) activates the ability to edit points on dynamic objects and particles. You will be able to visually see that youre in Edit Mode in the viewport. All the points that make up the object will become highlighted and all the Edit tool functions will become active.

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Motions
Motion Options Panel
(default keyboard shortcut M )

When an item in Layout is selected, clicking the Motion Options button opens a panel containing various controls for the selected item.

NOTE: For more information about the Edit tools and some of its options, see the Dynamics and Particles sections.

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LightWave 9 - Layout Full-time IK When this option is off, IK is not calculated full-time. This means that animating the goal object will have no effect on the items with IK active. The goal object will affect the IK items while posing. The items that are part of the IK chain will have to be keyframed manually. In this mode the Goal object acts as an aid to pose the IK chain. When this option is turned on, IK is calculated full-time. This allows the goal object to be used to animate with full-time and the items in the IK chain do not need to be keyframed. Goal Strength This option is used to determine how much the end of the IK chain follows or is attracted to the goal object. This is particularly important when using multigoal IK chains. One goal for example could be used to control the placement of a leg/foot and another to determine the orientation of a knee joint. You would want the goal at the end of the leg to have a greater goal strength then the one at the knee. Sometimes this takes a little tuning to get right. With a character that is modelled to human scale, goal strengths from 30 -100 work well. Interestingly enough the smaller the character the larger the goal strength and the bigger the character the smaller the the goal strength needed. Match Goal Orientation As stated before the Goal object acts as a sort of handle or the control rod on the end of a muppets arm. By turning on match goal, the last bone in the IK chain will match its orientation to that of the goal objects. This allows things like a foot or hand to stay locked in place rather then pivot around the goal object. Keep Goal Within Reach It is possible for the goal object to move away from its IK chain once it exceeds the length of the chain. This is normal but can be disconcerting to some people. If this option is turned on, the goal object will always stay at the end of the IK chain.

Parent Item
This brings up a pulldown list that allows you to parent the current item to any other item in the list excluding bones, which can only be parented to another bone belonging to the same object or to the object they belong to.

Unparent
Unparents the current Item from its current parent.

Target Item
This brings up a list of items that will allow the currently selected item to target or point at.

IK and Modier IK and Modiers Tab

Align to Path Look Ahead This allows an item that has keyframed motion and align to path activated to look ahead or anticipate twists and turns in the motion path. NOTE: Align to Path is an option found under the Controllers and Limits Tab inside the Controller controls for Heading, Pitch and Bank. Unaffected by IK of Descendents This option is used to dene the root of an IK chain. It acts as an anchor for IK based motions and stops the motion from passing back beyond that item. Goal Object This is an item which is usually the handle at the end of an IK chain. This handle serves the same function as a control rod on the end of a muppets arm or the strings on a puppet.

Chapter 19: Animating Add Modier This panel allows additional plugins included with LightWave or available from third party sources to be activated. These plugins will allow motions to be controlled or modied in various ways. Next to each motion modier in the list is a check box. This can be used to temporarily activate or deactivate the modier next to it.

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CurveConstraint

CurveConstraint moves an item along a curve object, similar to a motion path. The curve object is selected on the Curve pop-up menu. (If there is more than one curve in the object, the rst curve is used.) Align Will rotate the object so that it faces along the curve in the traditional Z axis manner. Start Time/ End Time These values determine how long the item takes to traverse the curve. Curve Inuence The Curve Inuence percentage blends the curve motion in or out. CurveConstraint does not remain locked to the curve, but adds the curves position to its own keyframed motion. To lock the item to the curve, simply parent the item to the curve, reset the items position then delete all its keyframes. You might use CurveConstraint to move an object along the same curve used to create the geometry (or create the curve from the geometry), just like you would with a roller coaster.

Camera TriggerCruise Control

Will move item with constant speed. The direction of motion will be the direction at time 0. There must be at least two keys in the object motion, preferably linear.

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LightWave 9 - Layout The Size Dissolve setting will dissolve the item in either the beginning or ending of the particles life. So in the Pre Behavior, while the particle is waiting to be generated, its not visible. Then for the Post Behavior, after the particle dies, it becomes invisible. Size effect applies the particle size to the object. The objects normal layout size becomes a factor where 0 = 0% and 1 = 100%. You can animate an overall size of particles using normal layout sizing functions.

FX_Link

Particles Choose particle group. The Rotation drop-list determines which rotation method the particle will have when emitted. The default value, Non, has no rotation added. The Random option gives the item a random starting rotation. Align to Path(h) and Align to Path(hp) will rotate the item according to the particles path. Time shift moves the start of the items sizing/rotation motion according to the settings in the drop-list. The Non value doesnt alter the timing of the items motion, it plays as it was originally keyframed. The Start Shift and End Shift options move the items motion to the beginning or end of the particles life. The Start Adjust (distance) and End Adjust (distance) settings will alter the frame rate of the motion according to the value in the Distance/Sec eld. As the particle travels a certain distance, a percentage of the motion is animated. The Pre and Post Behavior settings indicate what the items rotation/scaling state will be when the motion isnt being animated. This represents the time before the particle is born and after it dies. The Stay behavior will hold the rst frame of the motion for the Pre Behavior and the last frame with the Post Behavior. The Original setting returns the object to its original state in either the beginning or ending of the animation.

FX_Motion
Mode Tab

make key Generates a key for every frame. Group Select an existing group or create a new one. Mode After collision Choose an action post collision: none, reverse, random, stop. Start Frame Choose what frame to start the effect. Start by event Use this option if you want to trigger the motion upon collision. Weight This option sets an arbitrary weighting value that will inuence how factors like gravity affect the item.

Chapter 19: Animating Size This option affects the outer boundary used for collision detection. It can also be used by volumetric plugins like HyperVoxels. Resistance This option adds an air resistance effect. Items will move slower as this value is increased. Momentum This option adds in a momentum or increased mass effect. Items will tend to resist being stopped or slowed down. Rotation Resistance This option has the same effect as Resistance except that it affects the items rotational channels. z-Rotation by wind(deg/m) This option rotates the item in its bank channel as it moves or is affected by the wind. Velocity coordinates

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This option sets whether these settings use the items local axes or world coordinates. Initial Rotation(deg/s) This option sets the items initial HPB rotation. Random Rotation Start This option randomises the initial HPB rotation. Update This option updates/refreshes the current seeings in the Layout viewport. This is good to do with a heavy scene. Copy This option copies the current settings. Paste This option pastes settings in the copy buffer over the current settings.

Vector Tab

Cyclist
Cyclist will associate the action of one item with a repeatable action (an animation cycle) of another item.

Initial Velocity This option sets the initial direction and force.

Channels are activated by clicking on the buttons that represent each channel at the top of the Cyclist Panel. All activated channels will have their values replaced by the animation-cycle values of that same channel, but at the time determined by the Cycle Controller. Channels that are not enabled will retain their normal value at the particular frame.

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LightWave 9 - Layout After IK Although the motion of the item will always come from keyframes, the motion can be used to move an IK goal, if After IK is off. Effector Effector causes effector objects to repel or attract the motion path of the affected object. The effector objects may be any objects you wish, but Null objects work best.

For example, you can setup keyframes on wheels of a car so they revolve continually, while parented to a car. Then, apply cyclist to the individual wheels, setting the car (or master parent) as the cycle controller. When the car moves, the wheels will turn. Cycle Frames Denes the frame range that contains the action that you want repeated (i.e., the animation cycle). Cycle Controller Controls the item based on the selected control parameter, dened on the pop-up menu just to the right. The control parameters can be an items position, rotation, scale, speed, or the distance it has traveled along its actual path length. The Forward Progress, Side Slip, and Climb parameters take into account the items orientation and tell how far the item has been moving forward (Z axis), to the right (X axis), or up (Y axis), respectively. Speed looks at the items velocity. Controller Range Denes how much change is required to equal one full animation cycle. The unit of measure for this parameter depends on the selected control parameter. For Position and other Distance settings, the unit of measure is in the LightWave Default Unit dened on the General Options Tab of the Preferences Panel. Rotation uses degrees and scale is a factor where 1 equals 100 percent. Speed is in default units per second. End Behavior Determines what happens after the rst cycle is completed. World Coordinates Select this button to use the Cycle Controller s actual (world) coordinates, rather than its relative coordinates. These could be different if, for example, the object is parented to another object.

Effector Object(s) Prex Use this to set the prex name. Any object that begins with this name will be an effector, allowing you to have more than one based simply on their names. Solid Core Radius Denes a spherical area, within which all objects are equally affected. Falloff Distance There is a gradual falloff of the effect between the Solid Core Radius and Falloff Distance. Objects outside the Falloff Distance are not affected at all. Effector Shape There are two choices, Point or Plane. If you choose Plane, you will need to specify the Axis.

Chapter 19: Animating The Axis buttons will be greyed out if you choose Point. The impact of the effector object is set and animated by keyframing its XYZ Size channels. Positive values repel and negative values attract. Expression This is a motion-modier version of expressions, which can use the results of other motion modiers, as well as IK. This is not possible with a channel modier.

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Item To Follow Use the pop-up menu to dene the item whose motion you want to use. This item would be considered the leader. World Coordinates Activate this option to use the leaders actual (world) coordinates, rather than its relative coordinates. These could be different if, for example, the object is parented to another object. Time Delay The amount of seconds entered is added to the current time. A negative number can be used if desired. Randomize Is a maximum amount of time (in seconds) to be added to the delay. The actual amount will be between 0 and the Randomize value. This number may be negative or even larger than the Time Delay. (The latter would cause the item to sometimes anticipate the leaders moves and lag at

Channel You can select multiple channels from the pop-up menu and apply different settings for each (i.e., you dont just pick one). They can all share scratch variables (A through Z) and the expressions can be aware of other components of the items motion. Thus, H can depend on Z, for example, without trying to reference the items object. Follower Using the Follower item motion modier is similar to parenting an object to another, except that you have control over which motion channels you wish to inherit. You can also modify and delay the inherited value. Moreover, the motion can be inherited from the camera, a light, a bone, or any object in the scene. Follower looks at the pivot point of the item to follow, therefore, certain objects that follow another should match pivots.

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LightWave 9 - Layout Multiply By You can scale the value applied to a channel by inputting a factor other than 1 in the corresponding eld. Add The channel value may be offset by inputting a value other than 0 in the Add eld. Gravity

other times.) The overall delay amount for each item is xed over the course of the animation, so this is useful for basic ocking effects. NOTE: The random number seed is taken from the object ID, which should be the same among ScreamerNet nodes and, thus, will cause items to have different delay amounts. The delay stays the same from frame to frame.

Path Delay This parameter species a xed following distance along the path of motion of the leader, which is helpful for keeping cars in a train following correctly through accelerations. Align to Path This option will align the follower object to its new path. After IK Allows you to apply Follower taking (or not taking) into account changes from IK. Channel Represents position, rotation and scale. Source Select a Source for any of the leader objects motion channels you wish to use. Generally, the type of motion channels will match. That is, the follower objects, say, X Position will be determined from the leaders X Position. However, the settings can be different. For example, the follower objects Bank Angle might be derived from the leaders Z Position. Select none to disregard that channel.

Gravity simulates the effects of the Earths gravity on an items motion, making it fall naturally and even bounce with varying degrees of elasticity.

Strength This is the acceleration due to gravity in units of g, the Earths standard gravity. Axis The objects position will be altered along the specied Axis. Ground Level Sets the height at which the object will meet the ground. This is measured in the Default Unit (General Options Tab of the Preferences Panel).

Chapter 19: Animating Elasticity Describes the amount of energy lost on each bounce, which equates to the relative height of the bounces. Thus, 100% Elasticity is completely bouncy, and bounces forever, 0% doesnt bounce at all. Start Frame/End Frame The Start Frame and End Frame parameters specify when the effect is applied. NOTE: The most natural results will occur if all the keyframed motion within the range of frames is a single linear path. In particular, the trajectory is determined by an objects initial speed and direction of motion.

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Jolt!
Jolt! is an item motion modier that simulates the chaotic and uncontrolled movements that occur when physical impacts have enough weight and velocity to cause jarring vibrations. For example, the collision of a celestial body striking another, the impact of a robots foot with the earth, the collision of a laser beam with a passing spaceship, and so on. All of these events are good candidates for Jolt!

NOTE: Your object must start in a positive position along the selected Axis.

Jolt! also lets you specify vibration events using keyframes that indicate when a vibration will begin and be at its most intense. You can also specify the duration of the vibration and its initial intensity. Intensities can be set based on the objects position (X, Y, and Z axis) and its rotational values (heading, pitch, and bank). NOTE: Jolt! does not provide the basic motion of an item, but rather modies an existing motion. Jolt! does not modify existing motion except to radically deviate from it temporarily at specied intervals.

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LightWave 9 - Layout the Camera. Items using Jolt! that are closer to the ramp item begin their vibration events sooner than items that are further away. With items positioned correctly, this option can produce a visible shock wave effect from the ramp items location. World Coordinates If you select an item that is part of a parental hierarchy, Jolt! alerts you and if it isnt selected already suggests that you turn on the World Coordinates option. This option ensures that you get proper movement information from the child item. The NonLin2 button activates an alternate calculation for Jolt!s motion calculations. It creates motions that are less harsh. Keyframes Tab The Keyframes section houses the Jolt! key controls. When you want the jolting to occur on specic keyframes, you will utilise this tab. (If you want the effect to occur based on the position, rotation, and/or scale of an item, this is set on the Events Tab. You can set both.) The Jolt Keys slider selects the current frame. The range of the slider will exactly coincide with the number of render frames that have been specied on LightWaves Render Options Panel not necessarily the same value that is used in the Preview settings. The << and >> buttons will jump to the previous or next keyframe, if any exist. Clicking the Create Key button makes a keyframe at the current frame. Use Delete Key to remove an existing keyframe. Note that the current frame must be a keyframe to do this. Clicking the Populate Key will take the settings for the current keyframe and copy them to every existing keyframe. In other words, it populates all keyframes with the current settings and saves you from the tedious task of copying and pasting settings, frame by frame.

Global Options
Save Keys/Load Keys Lets you save and restore Jolt! settings. Save Motion/Load Motion These buttons save and load standard LightWave motion les based on the keyframed data. The Save Motion button is ghosted if no keyframes are set, and both buttons are ghosted when the Events Tab is selected. Linear Motion les saved with the Linear button active have their keyframes set to the (spline control) linear mode. Intensity Ramp Instructs Jolt! to track the movement of a LightWave item (i.e., Camera, light, object, or bone) and based upon its distance from the Jolt! object, increase or decrease the effect of the vibration proportionally. Minimum Range Is the radius in meters of Jolt!s effective range. LightWave items outside of this range will not create a visible effect. If you forget to set this value when you leave the Jolt! interface panel, you will be reminded and Jolt! will disable Intensity Ramp (with a minimum range of 0.0, it is ineffective anyway). Shock Wave With Shock Wave activated, vibration keyframes are adjusted internally to offset for the distance of the ramp object. The further away the ramp item is, the longer it will take for the vibration event to actually trigger, and the later it will trigger from its indicated start time. This option is useful if you use Jolt! on items in your scene other than

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Randomising Keys
Randomising (or jittering, if you prefer) provides a means of breaking up potentially monotonous key settings. Although Jolt! will internally randomise settings to some degree as it applies them to the item, unless you are using intensity ramping, the actual key values themselves will not be altered. By using the Randomize button, you can generate variances such that the motion of subsequent keys does not look so similar. The randomising process requires two or more keys in order to function. The settings of the rst key are never altered (nor is there any reason to alter them because no other key will look exactly like them after the effect is applied). The degree of variance can be altered by using the Threshold control input eld to the immediate right of the Randomize button. This control lets you specify, as a percentage, the maximum amount that each altered key will deviate from its current value. Jolting Effect The bottom half of this tab sets the actual jolting effect. Clicking Light, Medium, or Heavy will update a keyframes Position and Rotation values to reect preset values for a light, medium, or heavy vibration. This feature can be used for starting points or nal settings. WARNING: Please be aware that when you press any of these buttons, any existing Keyframe settings will be destroyed. Clicking the Copy Key button will copy all of the Jolting Effect settings to an internal memory buffer. Clicking the Paste Key button will paste the settings into the elds currently visible. Note that this can affect either the Keyframe or Events Tab interchangeably.

You can alter preset values. If you press the D button to the immediate right of any of the presets, then you store the current settings for the key as the default values for that preset. These new default values will persist between sessions with LightWave 3D. (Jolt! stores its preset defaults in a le called JOLT.PRE. You can restore the built-in Jolt! preset values at anytime by deleting this le; however, it can be stored in various places depending on the system conguration. You will need to search your hard drive to nd it.) Applying Turbulence Jolt! can apply turbulence to your items motion path in several ways. When you select Falloff, the turbulence applied will gradually decrease throughout the duration of the event. In other words, at the rst frame of the event, the position and rotation values you have entered for the event will be at their strongest, while at the last frame of the event they will be at their weakest. If you do not select Falloff, then Jolt! applies the event values at their full strength at each frame throughout the event duration. If you select Spring, Jolt! applies turbulence uniformly, and makes it appear as though your item is supported and buffered by springs. Without Spring, Jolt! applies turbulence more chaotically or randomly, which produces more of a true vibration effect. Key Settings A Duration value must be specied, in terms of the number of frames, within which Jolt! must complete the effect. Because you can specify duration and location of vibration events, keyframe data may overlap. Jolt! handles this situation by warning you about the overlap condition. The overlapping key will start before the preceding key ends. If a keyframe is deleted, Jolt! will recalculate all keys to ensure that any overlapped keys are corrected.

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LightWave 9 - Layout The << and >> buttons let you watch more than one item. To add another watched item, simply click the >> button. The informational display to the left will tell you what item is currently selected and how many there are in total (e.g., 01 of 03). The << and >> buttons are also used to navigate through existing watched items. If you add a watched item by mistake, set Watch to (none). You also cannot add another watched item if the last existing item is set to (none). Activate the Re-arm button if the item repeats its motion and you want it to trigger the event again. If Cascade is active, Jolt! will ignore the event (i.e., not evaluate it) until the event immediately preceding it has occurred at least once. The settings on the lower half of the tab work as described for the Keyframes Tab (see Jolting Effect, above).

The Position controls let you dene the maximum deviation on each of the three axes for the item at the current frame. These values are all specied in meters. The higher the number, the more dramatic the initial movement in that direction. A value of zero (0.0) in any position will prevent the item from deviating in that direction. The Rotation controls work similarly, but set deviation values for heading, pitch, and bank (in degrees). Events Tab On the Events Tab, you can cause jolting based on the position, rotation, or scale of items. (If you want the effect to occur on specic keyframes, this is set on the Keyframes Tab. You can set both.) The Watch pop-up menu gives you a list of all the items currently in your LightWave scene. You may select any available item from this list as the watched item, that is, the item that triggers the event.

LScript
Allows you to add an LScript motion modier to an item.

Lscript/RT
Allows you to add a compiled LScript motion modier to an item.

Motion Baker
Motion Baker will freeze the motion of an item into individual keys. Motion Baker takes into account not only IK, but also motion/channel modiers, align to path, and so on. Dragging your frame slider or playing the scene starts the computation. With the watched item selected, click on the Position, Rotation, and/or Scale button to activate the watched attributes. Click either the < (less than) or > (greater than) button next to the input eld you wish to set. The Position and Scale elds correspond to X, Y, and Z, from top to bottom and the Rotation elds correspond to H, P, and B.

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Oscillator
Oscillator applies damped harmonic oscillator motions (i.e., decreasing waves) to selected animation channels of an objects motion. Examples of this effect are everywhere, from springs and guitar strings to a grandfather clock pendulum.

New Key Mode Extra Channels Places the keys in a special AfterIK channel group you might use these with expressions. Use Existing Will create normal keys for the selected position or rotation channels. Overwrite Keys Any existing key data will be overwritten. Note that the existing key data will include the effect of Motion Baker recorded on a previous pass. NOTE: Motion Bakers position in a list of item motion modiers does not matter unless another modier has an AfterIK option and it is active. Channel Use the Channel pop-up menu to select an animation channel to be affected. Enable Activate the Enable button to turn on the selected channel. The oscillator value will replace the normal channel value. You may independently enable multiple channels and each channel may have its own independent group of settings. Additive Additive adds the oscillator value to the channel rather than replacing it. If this setting is active, a plus sign (+) will appear next to the channel name. If Additive is off, an asterisk (*) will appear next to each enabled channel name. Cycle Time Cycle Time is the period of the oscillation (i.e., wave), that is, the number of seconds between successive crests.

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Wave Size Refers to amplitude; the oscillator adds/subtracts this amount at its positive/negative crests. Offset The Offset value is also added to the oscillator value on each frame. Essentially, this sets the value of the horizontal axis that runs through the wave. By default it is zero. Phase Phase sets where the wave crests with respect to the beginning of the cycle, it ranges from 0 to 360 degrees. Essentially, the wave is shifted horizontally. Damping If Damping is applied, the crests will fall or grow over time, as is appropriate for harmonic oscillators. Damping units are a percent per cycle. Start Frame/End Frame The Start Frame and End Frame parameters specify when the oscillator is applied. Copy/Paste Copy and Paste use an internal clipboard to move Oscillator settings between channels or Layout items. NOTE: The formula is: channel value = old value + size * sin( phase + 2*pi*time/cycle time ) * exp(-t*damping factor). Where the damping factor is a special number computed from the Damping percentage.

Sun Spot
Sun Spot is a motion modier that will rotate an item, usually a Distant light, to match the suns angle at the specied date and time.

Distance The radial distance from the rotation center, at which the light is pointing. NOTE: Remember that the position of a Distant light is not that important since the light will always come from the direction it is pointing, even behind the Distant lights position. Time Settings Determine the starting angle. For example, the Hour eld should be set from 1 to 24 and Day is the day of the selected Month. Time Lapse When Time Lapse is set to 0, there is no sun rotation. A value of 1, will make the sun rotate in real-time, which is

Chapter 19: Animating very slow (i.e., one second of animation equals one second of sun rotation in the real world). The rotation may be imperceptible in short animations. In such cases, you may want to leave it at 0 to minimise any impact on rendering time from moving lights. You can accelerate the movement by increasing Time Lapse. For example, 86400 (60 seconds * 60 minutes * 24 hours) will cause one days rotation to occur in one second. Longitude/Latitude Set the Longitude and Latitude for the part of the world your sun is (theoretically) shining on. Time Zone Time Zone is +/- Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). There are presets provided. During night hours, the sun will stay at its lowest point at the end of its cycle and then pop to the starting point at the beginning of the next cycle. In other words, it will not revolve in a 360-degree circle. Scale

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Acts as a multiplier for the motion. A value of 1 has no effect. Axis Determines the perpendicular mapping axis, as would be the case with an Image Map.

MathMotion
This tool allows you to apply simple mathematical formulas to various channels of items to control their motion.

Use Variables This eld is where variables such as time, frame, rotation, position, etc are selected. Channel This option allows you to choose which channel the variable will have an effect on. Replace Keyframed Motion This option lets the formula contained in the Value eld to modify or override the items keyframed motions.

TextureMotion
TextureMotion lets you apply the contour of texture to a motion. Thus, if you used the same exact texture for a Displacement Map (on a subdivided plane), you could automatically have the item move over it following the contour without much effort!

Value
Offset Lets you move the motion in the positive or negative direction along the selected Axis. This is the mathematical formula that will create the motions.

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LightWave 9 - Layout Keep initial scale This option allows the item to keep its initial starting scale or size. After IK This option will calculate the parenting after IK is calculated rst. This also means that you will have to manually keyframe the items position at that position when this option is used.

Parenter
Parenter allows you to apply dynamic parenting.

Parent Opens the Select new parent dialog. Select new parent This option allows different parents to be selected over time. Unparent Clicking Unparent freezes or bakes the parented state at the current frame, but onlyuntil the next parenting entry, if any. Delete Deletes the new parental relationship. Edit Allows you to edit an existing parental relationship. Keep initial position This option allows the item to keep its initial starting position. Keep initial rotation This option allows the item to keep its initial starting orientation.

Chapter 19: Animating The only difference between the Edit parent and Select new parent panels is that a frame slider is added to the Edit parent Panel.

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To set up a constraint, rst make sure the Layout current frame is where you want the constraint to start. Click the Add button to add a constraint entry to the list. A panel will appear where you adjust the settings for the entry. There are three main rows of settings. Each row controls the XYZ position, XYZ scale, or HPB rotation, depending on which modier you are using. Each channel has its own targeted scene item. HINT: The scene item selected on the pop-up menus will default to item currently selected in Layout just prior to clicking Add.

LeadtheFollower To use:
Step 1: Create a motion path for an object, and then parent one or more other objects to it. Step 2: Run LTF.LS for each of the child objects. Step 3: Use the Options button to bring up a requester where you can set the number of frames each object should be in relation to the parent object. (If the parents motion is set to Repeat, then the child objects motions will repeat too.)

Simple Constraints
Use Simple Constraints (SimpleOrientConstraints, SimplePointConstraints, and SimpleScaleConstraints) to achieve dynamic parenting effects. You can independently inherit (world) position, rotation, and scale from other items in the scene and even use different items for different channels. These modiers are keyframe-aware so you can have different settings at different times in your animation. You can also use Simple Constraints to set up your motion and then bake the motion into keys. To use SimpleConstraints, simply open the Motion Properties Panel for the item you want to control and add one of the Simple Constraints motion modiers. SimplePointConstraints is used for positional effects; SimpleOrientConstraints is used for rotational effects; and, SimpleScaleConstraints is used for scaling. Adding Constraints The window lists each constraint entry in the order it becomes effective. The number on the left indicates the frame.

The Weight value determines how much the channel is followed. The default, 100%, will match the targeted channels exactly. You can use less than 100% or even more than 100%. Note that you can use the Envelope (E) button to animate the weighting. SimpleConstraints uses the pivot points for the source and target for its computation, so keep this in mind if the effect isnt turning out like you expect. Also, world space position, rotation, and/or scale are used, overriding the sources parenting and keyframed data. Select Null constraint if you want to disable and bake (see next section) the constraint at the current frame. You may disable any channel by clicking off the XYZ or HPB button, making it unhighlighted. You can also set the selected item to none. You can edit an existing entry by selecting it with your mouse and then clicking the Edit button. Baking To disable all constraints within a range of frames, but retain the constrained states, you can bake the constraint effect into actual keys. However, note that keys are only created

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LightWave 9 - Layout To use Parenter, simply open the Motion Properties Panel for the item you want to parent to something else and add the Parenter motion modier. To add a parenting entry, change Layouts current frame to the desired time and click the Parent on Parenter s settings panel. A dialog will appear. Select the parent item on the pop-up menu. You may independently select to keep initial position, rotation, scale, and/or parent after taking into consideration effects of IK. Click OK to close the dialog and add the entry to the list. Note that when you are using the After IK option, you will need to manually create a key (in Layout) for the parented item at that frame. Clicking Unparent freezes or bakes the parented state at the current frame, but only until the next parenting entry, if any. To delete an entry from the list, select it and click the Delete button. You may edit a selected entry by clicking the Edit button.

where the targeted object has a key, not at every frame. Also, the keys Incoming Curve will be set to Stepped. This locks the state at each create key. To bake the constraints, click the Bake Range button. In the panel that appears, set the sliders to dene the range of frames you want to be baked. If you only want to bake the current frame, click Bake Current Frame to set the sliders to only the current frame. Click OK to execute the process. After baking, the constraints falling within the baked range will become disabled. Obviously, subsequent adjustments to targeted items will not affect baked motions. If you click UnBake Selected, the selected constraint will be re-activated. Any keys created from baking will remain; however, remember that constraints will override them. Deleting Constraints To delete a constraint from the list, simply select it with your mouse and click the Delete button.

Simple Constraints vs. Parenter

Simple Constraints are slightly faster than Parenter and allows you to control motion channels separately. In general, you should use Parenter, unless your item hierarchy is deep enough to cause performance issues.

SuperJitter

Simple Affectors
The Simple Affector modiers (SimpleOrientAffector, SimplePointAffector, and SimpleScaleAffector) are set up exactly like Simple Constraints, described above. The difference is that the object retains its keyframe motion and is merely inuenced by the target.

Jitter Control Select an item to control jitter. Control Manually Selecting this enables the Channel setting.

Parenter
Parenter is also a dynamic-parenting modier, but is easier to setup compared to SimpleConstraints. It also differs in that you can keep the (source) items initial state and take only into account changes in the parent.

Chapter 19: Animating Channel Allows you to choose which channel (position, rotation, size) to apply jitter to. You have to click the ON button to activate the chosen channel. Max Jitter Clips the amount of jitter that can be applied. The E button allows you to set an envelope. Jitters/Sec Sets the frequency of the effect. The E button allows you to set an envelope. Edit This allows you to check the properties of a motion modier plugin or access its control panel. You can also copy, paste and remove motion modiers. This makes it easy to set up the attributes on one object and then copy/paste to other objects.

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Align to Path Look-ahead--Determines how far ahead to calculate the alignment Max Steps--The maximum number of steps taken to align the path Reliable Distance --The proximity of the calculation Heading, Pitch and Bank Controllers These contain four options for controlling the rotation channels. 1. Keyframe This simply means that you can manually orient an item in that channel and keyframe its position at anytime. 2. Point at Target This allows a particular rotational channel to target an item. Target Item in the main motion panel must be set to some item. 3. Align to Path This allows the rotational channel of an item to align to its motion path. With the Align to Path Look Ahead controller under the IK and Modiers Tab we can make this channel look ahead or anticipate a turn. 4. Inverse Kinematics This allows IK to control this channel. If other channels are set to FK we can selectively determine which rotational channels are controlled via IK or FK. Heading, Pitch and Bank Limits We can determine a range within which a rotational channel of an item can rotate. This is useful to keep joints from hyperextending or keeping IK controlled joints from popping. It is also useful to keep items that are very closely spaced from rotating in and through each other. Heading, Pitch and Bank Stiffness This setting allows you to set a stiffness or resistance on the rotational channels of an item. This works when the controller for a channel is set to IK. The Stiffness setting can help to determine which items in an IK chain will bend rst or last. Higher values make a joint harder to bend and lower values easier to bend.

Controllers and Limits Tab

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LightWave 9 - Layout

Motion Mixer
Motion Mixer was designed to bring the same concepts found in non-linear video editing to computer animation. You can store, re-use, and adjust motions for entire hierarchies. You can even mix motions together. Beneath the frame display are the Motion Mixer tracks where motions and transitions are placed. There can be any number of tracks, each of which can hold any number of motions or transitions. Step 2: In Layout, select the camera. Next, on the Motion Mixer Panel click Create Actor. Enter ACTOR_CAMERA as its name and click OK.

Motion Mixers actors dene objects or groups of objects, while motions dene their animations. The Timeline gives you the ability to move, trim and scale motions together. You can add transitions to control exactly how motions blend together. Creating incredibly complex animations from a library of relatively simple moves is fast and easy, bringing exciting possibilities to your LightWave animations. The best way to get comfortable with Motion Mixer is to set something up yourself.

Steps for using Motion Mixer:

Step 1: Choose Motion Mixer from the Windows drop down menu to run Motion Mixer. The Motion Mixer Panel is broken down into four areas, Actors and Motions on the left, and the Timeline and Toolbar buttons on the right. Beneath the toolbar is the familiar frame display.

When you create an actor, you are telling Motion Mixer which items in the scene you want it to control as a group. Scene items may be added or removed at any time and an actor can contain items of different types (i.e., objects, bones, cameras, and lights). However, an item can only belong to one actor. An actor may represent a character and its bone structure, a mechanical apparatus such as an aircrafts landing gear, or as in this case, an individual item such as the scenes camera. Step 3: The panel will begin to come to life. The Actor List pop-up menu will display the current actor, which we just created. If you had other actors, you could use this pop-up menu to change the current actor.

If there were multiple actors in a scene, you would choose

Chapter 19: Animating the current actor from the Actor List pop-up menu. The current actor is the one you want to work with and the one whose tracks and motions are displayed on the Timeline. The actor information display shows the number of actors in the scene and the number of items dened in the current actor.

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Step 6: Click Create Motion on the Motion Mixer Panel. Enter JUMP for the Motion Name and set the End Frame to 40, since that is the end of the motion we set up. Leave other settings at their default and click OK. NOTE: Anything in Layout with an Envelope (E) button can be used by Motion Mixer. When you create an Actor, you will see that a new item has been added to the Actor, called ExternalXChannels. This is a virtual item to which any channels that are not part of an items channel group are added. There is a new entry on the Actor menu, Add XChannels, which will bring up a panel that will allow you to choose channels to add to the Actor. Double-click on a channel in the left-hand tree view to add it to the selection list. Step 4: Now, lets create a motion. Motions are segments of animation that can represent anything from a characters walk cycle to a jet ghter performing a barrel roll. When an actor is active, Motion Mixer controls it. So to create a motion in Layout, you must rst deactivate the actor. Disable Actor Active.

If we had used Selected Items instead of Actor Items, the motion would come from items selected in the scene. XChannels are non-transformation channels (i.e., any channel other than Position, Rotation, and Scale). Select XChannels opens a new panel that allows you to specify which XChannels will be present in the motion. However, you can always toggle them on and off later in the Channel Editor. Clear Channels removes the animation from the items in Layout after capturing into Motion Mixer of course. Since Motion Mixer normally overrides and controls the motion, the animation is not usually needed. However, you may wish to disable Clear Channels, so you can create further motions from different parts of the same animation.

Step 5: In Layout, keyframe the camera so that it moves straight along the Z axis from frame 0 through 40. Make a key at frame 20 that makes it jump up along the Y axis.

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LightWave 9 - Layout Drag the Layout frame slider. Motion Mixer is now in control and moves the camera. You can reposition the motion by dragging the center of the motion bar. You can scale the motion by dragging either end of the bar to resize it. The range and scale of the motion will be displayed at the bottom of the panel. Step 10: Save this scene for future use!

Step 7: The actual keyframed motion of the camera has now been sucked into Motion Mixer. If you drag the Layout frame slider, you will notice that the camera doesnt move.

Motion Properties
The motion information display will show the number of motions that are dened in the current actor and the number of items contained in the current motion. The Motion List pop-up menu will display the current motion, which we just created. If the current actor had other motions, you could use this pop-up menu to change the current motion this is the motion you are working with. Step 8: We can now add a motion to the timeline. Click Add Motion on the toolbar and then click on the 00 Timeline slot at frame 0. This will add the motion to the timeline. A motions properties can be edited by right-clicking a motion in the Timeline. The motion can be renamed by simply editing the Motion Name eld. The Scale eld allows the motions scale to be modied numerically. Use Local Start Frame and Local End Frame to trim the ends of a motion without changing the original data.

If you want to cancel the operation, prior to clicking in the Timeline, click in an empty area of the panel, outside of the Timeline display. To remove a motion from the Timeline select it with your LMB and press the DELETE key. Step 9: Enable Actor Active.

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Offset Repeat the motion repeats, but it is offset by the difference between the rst and last keyframe values. Lock Normally, when you move a motion that has a behaviour, the behaviour will move along with the motion and retains its length. However, the Lock option pins the start or end frame of a behaviour to the Timeline. Dragging the motion will shorten or lengthen the behaviour. Eventually, it will push the behaviour once it has reached its minimum length. Remove the behaviour will be deleted/removed from the timeline.

Weight Curve
Motions can now be assigned a Weight Curve which allow you to specify the inuence a Motion has over time. These curves have the added benet of allowing you to weight to any keyframed animation underlying the Motion in Layout. The weighting system works on a value of 1.0 indicating full inuence and a weight value of 0.0 indicating no inuence on the nal animation. The difference with MotionMixers weights is that as the weight approaches 0.0, and if theres underlying animation in Layout, then more of that underlying animation will be mixed into the nal value: Weight Value 1.0 0.75 0.5 Motion Inuence 100% 75% 50% 25% 0% Layout Inuence 0% 25% 50% 75% 100%

A motion uses behaviours in the same way that LightWave uses them in the Graph Editor. After you click OK, you will see any behaviours added to the appropriate ends of the motion on the Timeline. You can change the length of a behaviour by dragging its end.

Pre and Post Behaviour Options

Reset the motion value is reset to zero. Constant the values beyond the ends are equal to the rst or last keyframe value. Repeat the motion repeats from the rst to last keyframe. Oscillate the motion is mirrored over and over.

0.25 0.0

If a Motion has no Weight Curve attached then its treated as if it has a weight of 1.0. Weights can also be increased above 1.0. This is very useful for overlaying other Motions, the higher the weight value you apply the more inuence that Motion will have over any others at that time (i.e., if you give a Motion a weight of 10.0, it will have ten times more

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inuence over another Motion with a value of 1.0). When a Weight Curve has been applied, a small green bar is drawn under the Motion on the Timeline. Weight Curves can be added, disabled temporarily and opened in the Graph Editor either through the Motion Properties Panel or directly from the Timelines context menus (see below).

Relative XZ Custom Offset Type

This is a hybrid of the normal Relative Offset and the Absolute Offset types. All channels are evaluated as relative offsets apart from the Y axis. This allows motions to be blended relatively but retain their Y heights (i.e., you dont end up with a follow-on Motion under the oor or oating above the ground).

Curve Translation
Curves for Transitions, TimeWarps & Weights are now moved and scaled to match their positions on the Timeline. This makes working with the curves far more intuitive; the frame indicator in the Graph Editor now shows the position on the curve at the current time.

Character Custom Offset Type

As the name implies this offset type is specially designed for characters and makes it very simple to align Motions automatically. Say you have a Motion where a character turns a corner and ends up facing 90 degrees, you append a Motion of a walk in a straight line. MotionMixer can now rotate that Motion so that it continues in the direction that the last Motion ended on. The Adjust Alignment control can be used to modify the calculated rotation value allowing you to ne tune the direction your character travels. The Compensate for Start Angle checkbox allows you to compensate for a Motion that doesnt travel along the positive Z axis. This is very handy for motion capture where motions are often not axis aligned (i.e., in situations where the performer runs diagonally to make the best use of the capture area, or probably more commonly, where people dont create their forward motion along the positive Z axis). To use the Character offset type set any items that control the characters movement (e.g., pelvis bone, IK Goals etc.) to CHAR in the Offset Editor (Custom Offset type).

Motion Instancing
Motion Instancing is now implemented. Any number of instances of a Motion can be placed on a Track and each can have their own independent attributes (i.e., Item/ Channel states, in/out points etc.) To create an instance of a Motion, select the source Motion from the Motion Menu (this can also be a previously created instance) and click Add Motion. Freeing the source Motion also removes all instances.

TimeWarp Curves
These can be attached to any Motion (or instance) and allow you to vary the timing of the animation, you can speed up or slow down sections, go backwards or freeze time and continue. A small red bar is drawn under the Motion to signify that a TimeWarp curve is attached. These can also be temporarily disabled. Controls to add/remove/disable TimeWarp curves are in the Motion Properties Panel and on the context menus.

Blending Motions with Transitions

Transitions are one of the most powerful features of Motion Mixer. They allow you to blend motions together.

Chapter 19: Animating Step 1: Start off where the previous exercise left off. We want to create another motion so disable Actor Active. Step 2: Create a keyframe at frame 60 so that the camera moves along the Z axis, but rotates 360 degrees on its heading.

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Step 5: Click on the Jump motion bar (1) and then click Add Transition on the toolbar (2). Next, click the Move_ Rotate Motion Bar (3). This adds a transition between the two motions.

Step 3: Click Create Motion. Use MOVE_ROTATE for the motion name. Other settings can be left at their defaults. Click OK.

Press Layouts Play button and watch the movement of the camera. During the frames controlled by the transition (41 through 59), the cameras position is interpolated to line up with the start of the second motion. You should notice that the movement between the motions is quite abrupt. This is because it is a linear interpolation curve by default. For a smoother blend, read on. Step 6: Right-click on the transition bar and choose Edit Transition. This brings up the Graph Editor and the transition should be listed as an animation channel!

Step 4: Set the scenes last frame to 120. Add the motion to slot 01 on the Timeline.

The vertical range of the curve represents the percentage of transition. For example: a value of 0% means 100% of the start motion and 0% of the end motion, 60% means 40% of the start and 60% of the end, and so on. The horizontal axis, which normally is frames, represents how far through the transition you arenot the range of frames in the transition. For example: 0 means the start of the transition (i.e., 0%) and 100 means the end (i.e., 100%).

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LightWave 9 - Layout NOTE: Ignore the time slider in the curve window, if youre scrubbing the animation in Layout. It does not reect the position within

a transition.

To smooth out the transition, you simply set the Tension to 1 for both Incoming Curves (they are both TCBSplines). You can do this quickly by selecting both keys and right-clicking on of them and selecting Ease In/Out from the pop-up menu. NOTE: Motions can be dragged between Tracks.

Renaming or Replacing Items in Layout

Renaming or replacing an item in Layout that belongs to an Actor will update the Actor and any motions. However, the channel names (as seen in the Graph Editor) will not be updated until the scene has been saved and reloaded. This does not affect the operation of Motion Mixer, but you should save and reload as soon as it is convenient.

Of course, since this is like any other curve, you can add more keys, use different Incoming Curve options, and so on. However, the rst and last keys should always be left at 0 and 100. If you add new keys, only add them between 0 and 100 or you will likely get unpredictable results. Step 7: Close the Graph Editor and watch the animation playing back. Youll see a smoother transition, but the difference in the end of the rst motion and the start of the second is too great to achieve a totally smooth blend. The smoothest blends are most often achieved by overlapping the motions, so that the transition starts before the rst Motion nishes and ends after the second has started. Step 8: Drag the Move_Rotate motion back so it starts at around frame 10. As you adjust the amount of overlap youll see the blend become much smoother. Remember that you can drag motions while Layout is playing, so you can modify the transition overlap interactively.

The Track Area

Clicking on the eye icon with your LMB can deactivate each track. When a track has been deactivated, all motions and transitions on the track are also disabled. This is useful for isolating a motion on another track, so that it can be worked on without the effects of any transitions or blending.

The display can be scrolled horizontally by holding down the ALT key while dragging your LMB on an empty area of the display. Scrolling the display vertically can be achieved by using your UP and DOWN cursor keys.

Chapter 19: Animating You can add or remove Tracks by using the RMB. Insert Track adds a new track to the Timeline at the end of the current list of tracks. Remove Track removes the currently selected track along with any motions on it. You can select a track by clicking on it.

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Add Items adds the currently selected items in Layout to the current actor. Removes Items removes the items selected in Layout, from the current actor. Motion Mixer will no longer control these items. This does not clear the item from Layout, however. Clearing an item from your scene will also remove it from an Actor. You can use Scan X Channels to add Endomorph channels, if Morph Mixer is added to an item after that item has been added to an actor. Motion Mixer allows you to mix all of the animation channels belonging to an item. The non-transformation channels (i.e., any channel other than Position, Rotation, and Scale) are called X Channels. Other examples of X Channels are: a lights RGB color and Intensity channels, a cameras Zoom Factor, an objects Dissolve channel, and so on. Free Actor removes the current actor from memory. All items contained in the actor are removed and all motions are freed. Edit Actor Map opens the Actor Map Panel, discussed below.

Selection Menu
The Selection Menu can be used as shortcuts to select items in Layout.

Actor Menu
The Actor Menu pop-up menu provides methods for working with actors and the items dened within them.

Motion Menu
The Motion Menu provides methods for working with motions and the items dened within them.

Add Items adds the currently selected items in Layout to the current motion. Use this when you need items of different types in the same motion.

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LightWave 9 - Layout Usually, an animation will not use all channels in all items. Having fewer channels active will improve playback performance in complex scenes and reduce the amount of keyframe data generated by the baking process. For example, in a character bone hierarchy, scaling is unlikely to be used, so these three channels can be deactivated for each item. Moreover, often only one item has any positional animation (e.g., the pelvis), so all the other items can have their position channels deactivated. Finally, some bones, like an elbow joint, only rotate around one axis, so the other two rotation axes can be deactivated. To toggle the state of an item or channel, click in the column marked On. A check mark in this column indicates that the item or channel is active. An [L] indicates that this item or channel is locked (i.e., inactive). This is a global setting and overrides any states set in the Channel Editor. NOTE: Actor Maps are saved and loaded in the LightWave scene le.

Remove Items removes the currently selected items in Layout from the current motion. Any animation data for these items will not be restored. Load Motions loads a motion into the current actor. Motion les have an .HMOT le extension and contain data for all the items in an animation. If the motion thats being loaded contains animation data for items that are different from those in the current actor, the Motion Mapping Panel will be displayed. Save Motion saves the current motion to disk. Copy Motion creates a copy of the current motion. You will be prompted for a name, after which the motion will be added to the Motion List. Rename Motion allows you to change the name of the current motion. This can also be done in the Motion Properties Panel. Free Motion removes the current motion from memory, all channels are cleared and the motion is removed from the actor.

Editing Motions
The Edit Motion button on the toolbar places the currently selected motion back into Layout for editing. All other tracks and motions are disabled while this mode is active. Once the motion is in Layout, you can edit the animation as you would normally. When youve nished making changes, toggle the Edit Motion button off. This will bring up the Edit Motion dialog.

Actor Maps
The Actor Map informs Motion Mixer which channels in an item should be evaluated on playback and while baking. By default, all channels and all items are active.

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Accept Changes to Motion updates the motion with the changes you made. Discard Changes to Motion does not update the motion. Restore Channels restores any animation that was present in Layout before editing the motion. Keep Channels leaves the motion in Layout. This is handy for creating new animations based off an existing motion. Clear Channels clears all the channels in Layout associated with the motions items. Motions are placed back at the frame/time from where they were created and are reset to their original (100%) scale.

The Start Frame, End Frame and Frame Step elds specify the range of frames that will be baked and the frequency of the evaluation. Note that Motion Mixer will always create a key on the rst and last frames of the range. NOTE: Often a Frame Step of 2 or 3 is accurate enough and much quicker to bake..

Baking Motion
The Bake Range button on the toolbar allows a range of frames to be recorded by evaluating the animation at a specied interval. This enables any combination of motions, transitions, and behaviours to be collapsed into a single motion that can be loaded back into Motion Mixer or just used in Layout.

By enabling Create Motion, Motion Mixer will automatically create a new motion from the baked sequence and place it in the Motion List. The Motion Name eld enables you to specify a name for this new motion. If this is disabled, the baked keyframes will be left in Layout, allowing you to perform further editing before creating a motion as described earlier. The current Actor Map determines the items and channels that are baked. If an item or channel is locked, then no new keys will be made for it. This is an effective way of reducing the amount of new data created and optimising the resulting motion. NOTE: Currently, you will need to bake the entire animation sequence, if you intend to render the scene with ScreamerNet. Once this is done, remove the Motion Mixer plugin from the scene and save the scene using a different name.

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LightWave 9 - Layout NOTE: Baking does not currently support X Channels. For the waving animation, youd disable all the items relating to the characters lower body, leaving just the upper body animating. Now, when you play back the animation, youll see the lower body animation from the walk cycle playing along with the upper body animation from the waving animation. The resulting animation can then be baked and saved for future use. Other animations could be layered on top of these, providing an easy way to add secondary motion to your work.

The Channel Editor

The Channel Editor gives you complete control over which motions, items and channels contribute to your animation. Open it by clicking Channel Editor on the toolbar.

Offset Editor
By default, Motion Mixer uses an absolute offset when evaluating motions. This means that each motion is evaluated in isolation from any other motion on the Timeline. Alternatively, a motion may be offset from another motion. This is called a relative offset. If you want a motion to continue on from the point at which another motion has nished, you can use a relative offset. The panel contains three lists. The list on the left controls the states of the motions that are currently placed on the Timeline. Clicking in the left hand On column, toggles the state of each motion. In the center of the panel is the Items list. This shows all the items that are controlled by the motion selected in the Motion List. Any or all of these items can be enabled or disabled. The list on the right shows the state of the channels for the item currently selected in the Motion Items list. If a channel is marked with the [L] symbol, that channel has been locked by an Actor Map and cannot be altered here. The Channel Editor can be used to combine two or more motions together. For example, say you have a character walk cycle and a waving animation and youd like to combine them to create a walking waving animation. First, youd position each motion on the Timeline so that they play at the same time. Then, open the Channel Editor to edit the state of the items in each motion. In the walk cycle animation, youd disable all the items for the upper body, leaving just the legs animating.

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To set an offset:
Step 1: Select the motion on the Timeline that youd like to set the offset for and click on the Offset Editor button on the toolbar. Step 2: Select the motion you want to create an offset from the Offset From pop-up menu and the type of offset from the Offset Type pop-up menu. Note that you cannot offset a motion from itself.

Key Commands
Shift+LMB Click: Add/remove Motions to/from the selection. Shift+LMB Drag: Moves selected Motions on the Timeline. Drag anywhere other than on a Motion. Ctrl+Drag: Moves the entire contents of active tracks. Disable a track if you dont want to move its contents. Ctrl+RMB Drag: Moves the contents of active tracks that have their start frames after the frame at which the drag operation is started. Ctrl+MMB Drag: Same as Ctrl+RMB Drag, but affects only those Motions that have their end frames before the initial click frame. Timeline can be zoomed by Alt+Ctrl+LMB dragging. The Timeline will pan vertically during a normal Alt+LMB drag if the mouse is moved up or down more than the height of a track.

To remove an offset:
You can remove an offset from a motion either by setting Offset From to (none) or setting the Offset Type to Absolute.

More on X Channels
When you create an actor, or add items to an actor, Motion Mixer looks for any non-transform channels and assigns them automatically. If channels are added to an item after it has been added to an actor, Motion Mixer will detect the change and add them to the actor. The exception to this is Endomorphs. Endomorph channels will be added to an actor automatically only when Morph Mixer has been added before the item was added to the actor. If Morph Mixer is added after that item has been added to an Actor, you must use Scan X Channels in the Actor Menu, which was mentioned earlier Removing X Channels from an actor is achieved by either using the Remove Items entry in the Actor Menu, clearing the item from the scene, or manually removing the MM_ ChannelDriver modier on the Graph Editor. Custom Offset when you add this to a Motion, you can choose, on a per item basis, whether to use Absolute or Relative offsets. This is very useful for animations containing translation. Just set the translation item(s) to Relative and the rest to Absolute. Changing the offset type is done by clicking on the column next to the item name in the Offset Editor list box, this will toggle between ABS and REL.

Additional Notes
Displacement/HyperVoxel Texture Layer Position, Rotation and Scale envelopes etc. can be used. General XChannel support has been improved. MotionMixer creates a cong le (in the same directory as the LightWave congs) to store settings between sessions. Colors for Motion & Behaviour bars and the Toolbar are specied here. Other colors will be affected by any changes made to the LightWave color scheme. Scenes containing the same Actor can be imported using Load from Scene, this creates a duplicate Actor. Motions on the Timeline that have been made inactive through the Channel Editor cannot be selected or moved.

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LightWave 9 - Layout

Relativity Expression Module

What is Relativity?
Relativity is a motion and displacement plugin (applied via the Motion Options panel and/or the Object Properties panel) that allows the motions and/or deformations of one item (camera, light, object, or bone) to be related to the motions of another item via mathematical expressions. Below is a picture of the main Relativity motion plugin panel (accessed via the Options motion plugin button):

Rot in Deg (Rotation in Degrees)

Allows rotation values to be calculated in degrees, as opposed to the default radians that LightWave uses internally. For most, it is much easier to think in degrees.

Explicit WCs
This button forces Relativity to calculate the global position of a child object based on just the rotation, scale, and motion of each of its parents. LightWave normally supplies this information, but in the case of Full-Time IK and in cases where a motion plugin controls the motion of a parent or ancestor of the particular child object, LightWave supplies bogus world-coordinate information to a plugin. So, Relativity can go in and reconstruct the position explicitly using position, scaling and rotation data. Using this option can slightly increase the amount of time needed to perform an expression in Relativity.

Motion Channels
It is ultimately the contents of these nine little elds that comprises all that Relativity really is. At its heart, you enter expressions dened in a simple expression language that end up relating the value of each motion channel to something else happening in LightWave. For instance, you could enter in the H slot the expression X(light,t+2). What would happen then is that the expression interpreter would look at the lights X position at 2 seconds before the time for the current frame and then pass that into LightWave as the heading rotation value for the camera. I could also make the expression 3*X(light,t+2) and then have the X position of light multiplied by 3 before being passed as the heading value for the camera.

Current Item
This menu allows you to bring up and edit the expressions of any item in LightWave that is currently using Relativity. NOTE: You cannot access Relativity morph expressions from the motion panel or vice versa. Disable Turning this button on will disable this instance of Relativity for this object, allowing the original keyframed motion to play through untouched. This setting is saved in the scene le for this instance of the plugin as well.

Special Functions
This slot is used for several special functions that Relativity can perform, like targeting and dynamic parenting.

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Clear
Clicking this button will clear everything out of the current panel, allowing you to start over. If you happen to do this accidentally, click Cancel to lose the changes and then come back in.

Professors
For those who feel rather math-shy, there are a number of Professors that allow you to set up common types of expressions. Note that next to the expression slot for each motion channel, there is an Ask a Professor menu choice. For most professors, it is context sensitive (i.e. for the Gears professor, the rotation used in the expression will match that of the slot selected...so the bank slot would be lled with a B(object,t), the heading slot with H(object,t) and so on.). The Dr. Follow professor will actually place data in any slot specied and is thus not context sensitive. To use a professor, select it from the choice menu and ll in the blanks. If youve lled in everything correctly, your expression will be automatically set up for you. You can then take the expressions created and tweak them further. A detailed staff listing of the professors and what they do can be found later in this chapter.

Copy/Paste
Copies/Pastes the expression into/from an internal buffer, all settings and variables will be copied and pasted as well.

Copy to Descendants
Copies the current set of expressions to the descendants of an object. An example would be in setting up a motion cycle for the thigh of a character. You could then take those same expressions and copy them to the descendants of the current object. NOTE: The descendants will need to already have Relativity applied to them via their own Motion Graph panels. Relativity is unable to do this automatically due to limitations in the LightWave plugin architecture.

Variables Panel
Above is a picture of the variable panel, accessible via the Variables button on the main panel. Relativity has a number of variables available that you can use in your expressions. Basically, each variable can be a sub-expression which then gets dropped into the grand expression for each motion channel. For instance, I could dene the sub-expression X(object1,t)*sin(t*5) as a subexpression for variable A. This can then be substituted into the nal motion channel expressions. Say we put the expressions: 3*#a and 2*#a in the X and Y slots of Relativity...if you expanded things out, youd end up with: 3*(X(object,t)*sin(t*5)) and 2*(X(object,t)*sin(t*5))

Load/Save
Loads and Saves the expression settings To/From a le. The le format is just text with all the parameters listed sequentially in it.

Search/Replace
Search for instances of a text string, and replace it with another. The search can either be case-sensitive or not.

Comments
Put in anything you darn-well please in these slots...they are there to help you remember why you set up an expression the way you did.

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LightWave 9 - Layout + - additive morph - adds the values of the target points to the currently calculated morph - - subtractive morph - subtracts the values of the target points from the currently calculated morph. * - multiplicative morph - multiplies the currently calculated morph by the values of the target. / - division morph - divides the calculated morph points by the point values of the current target So, a typical morph expression might look like this: &MORPH(morph1,#a)+MORPH(morph2,#b)MORPH(morph3,#a+#b) where #a, #b, etc. were derived from expressions in the variables panel. You can enter any of the standard Relativity expressions in the variable slots, A through R, and then use these in the MORPH expressions. You can also place expressions directly in the morph value of the MORPH expression as well (e.g. MORPH(targ1,sin(t))) You will also notice the options buttons at the top of the morph panel, labeled Evaluate Expression Point-by-point, Evaluate Point using World Coordinates, and Transform Morph Target(s).

which are certainly more unwieldy to manage than putting the sub-expression in A and substituting in #a where needed. In addition, note the two buttons, Shift Variables Up and Shift Variables Down on the panel. What these buttons do is move the variables up or down in the slots, replacing the variable names in all expressions accordingly. The reason for these buttons is if you as the expression designer decide you need some extra slots at the beginning or end of a group of expressions...nding and replacing all references to variables within the expressions as necessary.

The Relativity Morph Plugin

Using the Relativity Morph plugin, found in the Object Properties panel Deform Tab, you can easily morph from one object to many potential targets, using complex expressions. You can even do additive, subtractive, multiplicative, and division-based morphs. There is a single expression slot MORPH into which you can enter any number of morph expressions (any other expressions in this slot will be ignored). Each morph expression has the following syntax: <command character>MORPH(target,value) where command character can be any of the following: & - replacement morph - this interpolates from the presently calculated morph into the target.

Evaluate Expression Point-by-Point: If this option is on, then the variables x, y, and z are replaced with the value of each point in the original object, as they are moved. This is useful for creating partial morphs, like effector-morphs, gradient morphs and ripple morphs. If this option is off, then x, y, and z use the keyframed motion values from the object itself for these variables. Evaluate Points using World Coordinates: If this option is on, then the world x, y, and z values of each point is used in evaluating the morph. This will also cause the morph to be evaluated after bones have been applied. If this is off, then individual points are evaluated using their before-bones local coordinate.

Chapter 19: Animating Transform Morph Target(s): If this option is on (and it must go hand-in-hand with Evaluate Points using World Coordinates), the morph plugin will transform the target points by the motion of the morph target object, allowing you to have the morphed points move with their target. It is highly recommended that you avoid using functions like DIST and ODIST in the expressions if you have any of the point-by-point options on...you will be waiting a long time for those expressions to nish with objects that have any signicant point count. There are several example scenes included in the latest example scene archive that show the new Rel_Morph plugin in action. In addition to the object morphing, the X, Y, and Z slots allow for expression based deformation on the X, Y, and Z coordinates of each point in your object.

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X(something,t-.5) - gets the X motion value of object something where it was a half second ago (time is always in seconds) The goal is to create an expression for each motion channel of interest. For motion channel slots left blank, the keyframed value for that channel will default through to the motion of the object.

Object Names
In order for relativity to grab object names, full names (case insensitive) need to be supplied for all functions, object and bone names also need to be unique in order for Relativity to nd the correct object. Object names that end with the .lwo extension need to have their names specied in functions in Relativity with their extension. Null objects should be specied with their exact names (typically, they do not have the .lwo extension on their names). There are also 3 predened object names: camera - grabs motion info from the camera SELF - grabs information from the items own keyframe data PARENT - grabs information from the objects parent.

THE RELATIVITY EXPRESSION LANGUAGE

Syntax The Relativity language syntax is very similar to that of the NewTek Math Motion and Math Morph plugins, which ends up being a sort of LISP-ish type programming language. Basically, you enter a mathematical expression in a slot, and the plugin will evaluate it, applying the nal value of that expression to that channel. In the slots on the variable panel, the expression is applied to that variable, whose value can then be placed in other expressions. Some simple expressions would be: sin(t) - the sine of the current time value cos(x) - the cosine of the x value of the objects own keyframed motion X(blah1,t)+Y(blah2,t) - adds the X value of blah1 and the Y value of blah2 #a*sin(t)+XS(SELF,t) - multiply whatevers in the A slot by the sine of t and add the X scale keyframe value of its own keyframed motion at the current time.

Variable Substitutions
If you click on the Variables button on the main Relativity options panel, you will notice a panel with a number of additional slots: A through R. These are there to allow the build-up of complex multi-expressions that would become quite unmanageable very quickly if all strung into one string. Relativity will scan each string, looking for a # character followed by a variable name and substitute that value in. For example, if I had: X: 3*#i Y: 4*#i I: sin(X(something,t)) the value of I would be evaluated and X would be essentially

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LightWave 9 - Layout expressions: X: #def+2 Y:#def-6 Z:#def*2 would change the coordinates of our object to 4, -9, 10. In addition to the user-dened slot variables, Relativity has several predened variables (these SHOULD NOT BE PRECEDED BY THE # SYMBOL): x - the x position of the current item (in local coordinates) y - the y position of the current item (in local coordinates) z - the Z position of the current item (in local coordinates) t - the current time

set to 3*sin(X(something,t)) and Y to 4*sin(X(something,t)). Note how using the variables also allows you to remove repetitive sub-expressions from your main expressions. In addition to that, each variable slot can take variables from the previous slots...so, we could have: I: X(blah,t) J: Y(more,t) + #i K: Z(amore,t) + #i + #j etc. Relativity also has several special variables, #ex takes the numeric extension of the objects name, either the (1), (2), etc.) of a cloned objects name, or any numeric extension on an objects lename (i.e. myobject001.lwo, myobject002.lwo). This can be useful in setting up a set of expressions that automatically offset clones and numeric duplicates of objects into their appropriate position when cloned (this was used in the newtank.lws example scene to make all the tread links fall into their correct position. A simple example would be: X: #ex Now, anytime this object is cloned, the clones will each offset themselves by one meter in the X direction. #frm gets the number of the current frame. #fps gets the current frames-per-second value #def this passes through the default value for whichever motion channel its on.. So, for example, if you had an object keyframed at X=2, Y=-3, Z=5, and then had the following

Comments
You can put whatever you want into the comment elds, which will be saved with the expressions in the scene le. In addition to that, the user can end any expression line with a comment preceded by either a double-forward-slash //, or a forward-slash followed by an asterisk /*, Relativity will ignore anything after the comment character and will not send that part of the expression on to the parser/compiler/ evaluator. An example would be the following, entered in the X eld of the main panel: X(object1,t) //here were getting the X value of an object or X(object1,t) /*here were getting the X value of an object

Chapter 19: Animating Functions Relativity supports all of the standard math functions supported by LightWave. These can be found listed in the appendix in the Reference manual. In addition, Relativity supports the following functions (NOTE: the function names are case sensitive, X is not the same as x). It should also be understood that object names containing these functions in their proper case may confuse the Relativity expression parser...so, for example, dont include an objects name as myXobject, instead, change the name to myxobject and all will be well with the world. IT IS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED THAT ALL OBJECT NAMES USED IN RELATIVITY EXPRESSIONS BE DONE IN ALLLOWERCASE: X(object, time expression) Y(object, time expression) Z(object, time expression) H(object, time expression) P(object, time expression) B(object, time expression) XS(object, time expression) YS(object, time expression) ZS(object, time expression) gets the x, y, z, heading, pitch, bank, x scale, y scale, and z scale of object, respectively. XW(object, time expression) YW(object, time expression) ZW(object, time expression) gets the world coordinate position of object. XL(object, time expression) YL(object, time expression) ZL(object, time expression) converts the global coordinate of object into the local coordinate space of the object to which were applying UPX(object, time expression) UPY(object, time expression) UPZ(object, time expression) FORX(object, time expression) FORY(object, time expression) FORZ(object, time expression) RITX(object, time expression) RITY(object, time expression) RITZ(object, time expression) Relativity. Examples: X(object,t)

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This would get the X position of object at the current time.

MOTX(object, time expression) MOTY(object, time expression) MOTZ(object, time expression) These functions return a normalized vector representing the motion of the object. This can be useful, when combined with the vector parameters below, to gauge how much of the objects motion is forward and how much is side-to-side. Example: X: MOTX(object,t) Y: MOTY(object,t) Z: MOTZ(object,t) would cause our Relativity instance to point in the direction of motion of object.

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LightWave 9 - Layout CAMFD(time expression) CAMFSTP(time expression) CAMBLR(time expression) Gets the zoom factor, horizontal view angle, vertical view angle, focal length (in millimeters), focal distance, f-stop, and motion blur factors, respectively, for the camera at time time expression. Example: Z: Z(CAMERA,t)+CAMFD(t) would position a null right at the focal point of the camera, provided its looking down the Z axis and unrotated.

These are the Relativity vector parameter functions, and return a normalized vector representing the orientation of objects local X, Y, and Z axes in global space (UP = Y, FOR=Z, RIT=X). See the included example scene mo_ parms.lws to see these in action.

OBJDIZ(object, time expression) evaluates the dissolve factor of object, which can then be used in your expressions. Example: OBJDIZ(myobject,t) will evaluate the dissolve amount for myobject. BONERX(bone) BONERY(bone) BONERZ(bone) BONERH(bone) BONERP(bone) BONERB(bone) BONERL(bone) Get the rest X, Y, Z, heading, pitch, bank, or rest length of bone. Example: BONERX(bone)+BONERY(bone) adds the X and Y rest positions of bone together.

LIGHTCON(light,time expression) LIGHTEDG(light,time expression) LIGHTRED(light,time expression) LIGHTGRN(light,time expression) LIGHTBLU(light,time expression) Gets the cone angle, soft edge angle, red color, green color, blue color, respectively of light at time time expression.

Example: LIGHTCON(light,t) would get the cone angle of light at time t.

CAMZOOM(time expression) CAMHORZ(time expression) CAMVERT(time expression) CAMFL(time expression) XCYCLE(object, driving expression, start time in seconds, end time in seconds) YCYCLE(object, driving expression, start time in

Chapter 19: Animating seconds, end time in seconds) ZCYCLE(object, driving expression, start time in seconds, end time in seconds) HCYCLE(object, driving expression, start time in seconds, end time in seconds) PCYCLE(object, driving expression, start time in seconds, end time in seconds) BCYCLE(object, driving expression, start time in seconds, end time in seconds) XSCYCLE(object, driving expression, start time in seconds, end time in seconds) YSCYCLE(object, driving expression, start time in seconds, end time in seconds) ZSCYCLE(object, driving expression, start time in seconds, end time in seconds) - cycles the objects motion from the start time to the end time...whenever the decimal portion of the driving expression is 0, the position of the object at the start time is copied...if it is .99999, the position at the end time is copied, if it is 0.5, the position halfway between the start and end times is returned, etc. Example: XCYCLE(SELF, t, 0, 0.333) This would cycle the X values between 0 and 10 frames (frame 10 = 0.333 seconds), repeating the cycle each time the time value ticks off a second. expression) YSMINPATH(object, following distance, time expression) ZSMINPATH(object, following distance, time expression)

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- gets the motion value at a minimum path distance of following distance behind the objects position at time t. Example: XMINPATH(leader, 1, t) This would get the X coordinate of object leader 1 meter in path-length behind its current position.

TARGET(object, time expression) entered in the special expression eld for the object, target will target the heading and pitch of the item toward the target object, pointing the local Z axis at the targeted object. Example: TARGET(object, t) would target the position of object at time t.

MATCH(object, time expression) this function will match an unparented object to correcspond with the object listed in the MATCH function, no matter how deeply object is buried in a hierarchy (including bones and child bones). Useful for such things as attaching objects to bones properly. MATCH is a special function, and as such, should go in the Special Functions slot. Example: MATCH(footbone, t)

XMINPATH(object, following distance, time expression) YMINPATH(object, following distance, time expression) ZMINPATH(object, following distance, time expression) HMINPATH(object, following distance, time expression) PMINPATH(object, following distance, time expression) BMINPATH(object, following distance, time expression) XSMINPATH(object, following distance, time

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LightWave 9 - Layout Entered in the Special Functions slot, this will move the object along the Z direction (wherever this happens to be pointing) at the specied velocity (in meters/second). Using this function, you can simply rotate your object and have it smoothly y wherever you need it to go. This function is perhaps most useful for situations where you have the rotation of an object controlled by some sort of virtual steering mechanism (like a virtual joystick or steering wheel) and want the object to respond to the rotation changes by moving in the new direction. Example: MOVEVEC(X(controller,t), t) this moves the object by the velocity indicated by X(controller,t), incorporating the rotations of our object up to the current time to determine its current position.

This would match the position of our object to that of footbone at time t. GAP(object1, time expression1, object2, time expression2) this function measures the gap between the global position of object1 at time time expression 1 and object2 at time expression 2 DIST(object, time expression) gets the total path distance traveled (in global coordinates) from time 0 to the time specied. Example: DIST(whatever,t-0.5) Gets the total path distance traveled by whatever from time 0 up to 15 frames ago.

SUMX(object,time expression) ODIST(object,time expression) this returns the oriented distance traveled by the object, with the orientation being determined by the direction of travel and where the objects own local Z axis is pointing. Using this distance function, it is possible for an object to walk forward and backward, stepping properly as it does so. The original DIST function did not take object orientation into account and will return the total path distance traveled by an object regardless of the direction of the path motion with respect to its orientation. Example: ODIST(PARENT,t) Gets the oriented distance traveled by the parent of our object. SUMY(object,time expression) SUMZ(object,time expression) SUMH(object,time expression) SUMP(object,time expression) SUMB(object,time expression) SUMXS(object,time expression) SUMYS(object,time expression) SUMZS(object,time expression) this function adds the value of the objects respective motion channel incrementally, once per frame. So, for example, if you have an object keyframed to X=0.5, at frame 1, SUMX would equal 0.5, at frame 2, SUMX would equal 1.0, etc. To use the SUM functions as a pseudo-time function (for throttle type controls), you will probably have to multiply the SUM expression by 1/(frames per second rate), i.e. 1/30 or 1/24, etc.

MOVEVEC(velocity,time expression)

Chapter 19: Animating Example: SUMX(blah, t) this would sum the X component of object blah from time 0 to the present time.

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Performs a logical OR between two expressions, if either or both expression 1 and expression 2 are not 0, then the OR will return 1. If they are both 0, the OR will return 0. Example: OR(IF(X(blah,t)<0),IF(Y(blah,t)>0))

IF(expression1 <comparison character(s)> expression2) the IF function will evaluate expression1 and expression2, compare them using the <comparison> character(s) and evaluate to 1 if the comparison is true, 0 if it is false. The following comparisons are supported by IF: Example: IF(X(blah,t) < 0) this will evaluate to 1 if the x coordinate of blah is less than 0, and will evaluate to 0 if the x coordinate of blah is greater than or equal to 0. AND(expression1,expression2) Performs a logical AND between two expressions, if expression 1 and expression 2 are BOTH not 0, then the AND function evaluates to 1, if either or both are 0, then the AND returns 0. Example: AND(IF(X(blah,t)<0),IF(Y(blah,t)>0)) would return 1 if the X value of blah is less than 0 and the Y value of blah is greater than 0, otherwise, the AND would return 0. OR(expression1,expression2) < - less than > - greater than <> - not equal to <= - less than or equal to >= - greater than or equal to

would return 1 if either the X value of blah is less than 0, or the Y value of blah is greater than 0, or both. If neither is true, then the OR would evaluate to 0.

NOT(expression) NOT will return 0 if the expressions value is not 0 and 1 if it is zero, i.e. a logical NOT operation. This is most useful for negating IF() expressions. Example: NOT(IF(x>0)) will return 1 if the x value of our item is not greater than zero, and 0 if it is greater than 0. COND(expression <comparison character(s)> expressi on,trueresult,falseresult) this function implements a conditional expression, basically giving the user an IF...ELSE kind of logical decision-making. The rst part is identical to the format of the IF statement, this is followed by an expression to evaluate to if the condition is true (i.e. trueresult). If the condition is false, then falseresult is returned instead. Example: Y: COND(X(self,t)<=0,1,Z(object,t)) in this example, if the X position of the object itself is less than or equal to zero, COND will evaluate to 1. If it is greater than zero, the COND expression will evaluate to the Z value of object.

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LightWave 9 - Layout C: EVTIME(IF(GAP(object,t,sensor,t) > 1)) D: COND(#c > 0,FT(5)+#c,#b) X: X(SELF,#d) Y: Y(SELF,#d) Z: Z(SELF,#d) In this example, say we have a door keyframed to open from frames 0 to 5 and keyframed to close from frames 5 to 10. In this example, an event trigger is thrown by A when object and sensor come within one meter of each other, causing the open animation to play. However, we dont want the close animation to occur until our object gets far enough away. So, the B expression limits the playback of A to frames 0 through 5 by returning the time value for 5 frames if A gets bigger than that. The C expression is set up so that its triggered when the object moves further than a meter away. Finally, the D expression is set up to return the C value if it has a value, and the B expression otherwise. The net result of all this gibberish is that when object gets close to sensor the doors y open. When it moves away from sensor, they y shut again. EVONE(expression) This function is the same as EVTIME, except it doesnt reset when the condition becomes false again. EVONE remains triggered no matter what happens to the tracking event. VX(object,t) VY(object,t) VZ(object,t) VH(object,t) VP(object,t) VB(object,t) VXS(object,t) VYS(object,t) VZS(object,t) computes the directed velocity of an object along the appropriate motion channel. NOTE: This value is sensitive to direction, so an object moving in the positive direction

FT(framenum) converts a frame into a time value in seconds (as Relativity equations use seconds to calculate the time). NOTE: framenum must be a constant value...it cannot be an expression. Example: FT(30) would convert to 1.0000, or 1 second, in the typical 30 fps scenario. EVTIME(expression) this function is a very powerful one, using it, you can set up an animation to play back when a specic trigger condition occurs. The way this function works is it will return a time value, indicating the last time that expression changed from 0 or less than zero, to greater than zero, most typically done by some form of IF statement. As long as expression remains greater than 0, EVTIME will keep ticking off time. Whenever the expression is 0, or less than zero, EVTIME will return 0. EVTIME will also return 0 if the expression starts out as true (i.e. greater than zero) without having switched from a false condition to a true condition. NOTE: EVTIME will only evaluate expression at frame boundaries, not at interframe time values in order to save calculation time. If expression changes from false to true at an interframe time, the time at the next frame will actually start the count. Example: Y(SELF,EVTIME(IF(Y(botfoot,t) < 0.1))) This would start playing back the animation of the object itself once the Y value of botfoot gets reasonably close to zero. Something like this could be used to simulate camera shake whenever a bot s foot hit the ground. another Example: A: EVTIME(IF(GAP(object,t,sensor,t) < 1)) B: COND(#a <= FT(5), #a, FT(5))

Chapter 19: Animating at the same speed as one moving in the negative direction would have opposite X velocities, one positive and the other negative, respectively. NOTE: All velocities are in meters per second (except rotational velocities which are in degrees per second if the Use Degrees button is on, in radians per second if Use Degrees is off), if you need a different velocity measurement, such as miles per hour, you will need to multiply the velocity value by the appropriate constants. Example: VX(object,t) gets the X velocity of our object at time t (in meters per second) SPEED(object,t) SPEEDW(object,t) gets the speed in local coordinates or world coordinates, respectively, of the object at time t. Speed is irrespective of direction, and takes all axial motions into account. Example (a simple speedometer): B: 180*SPEED(car,t) AX(object,t) AY(object,t) AZ(object,t) AH(object,t) AP(object,t) AB(object,t) AXS(object,t) AYS(object,t) AZS(object,t) computes the acceleration of an object along the motion channel. In this case, acceleration is direction insensitive, returning the change in the absolute value of the velocity on the channel in question. Example: AH(object,t-0.1)

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this would get the heading velocity of object at .1 seconds behind the current time. SPDCHNG(object,t) SPDCHNGW(object,t) gets the change in speed over time of an object at time t, in local or world coordinates, respectively. This can be considered akin to acceleration, but in all directions, rather than just one axis. Example: Y: 30*SPDCHNG(myobject, t-X(timecontrol,t)) This would measure the rate of speed change for object myobject at the current time minus the X value of control (in seconds). ABSDEG(expression) converts a rotation value in expression into an absolute degree value between 0 and 2*PI radians, or betwen 0 and 359 degrees if the Use Degrees button is checked on. This can be useful when you have something continually rotating, and yet you want to create a behavior that works between a set of rotation values, like bones placed in a tire to do tire-bulge. Example: ABSDEG(P(obj,t)) would have the following values with corresponding values for the pitch of obj. Value of Pitch of obj 30 degrees 360 degrees 740 degrees Value of ABSDEG

30 degrees 0 degrees 20 degrees

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LightWave 9 - Layout control of the fractal randomness. NOISE(expr) returns a noise value based on the value of expr. Basically, you feed it a value, and out pops a fractal noise value. Example: NOISE(t) will return a noise value based on the current time. NOISE(3*t) will return a more jagged noise value.

FRAC(controller object, # of frequencies) gets a fractal noise value (a single value between 0 and 1.0) at the global position of an object, using the controller object to determine the position, rotation, and scale of the fractal texture. The way this works is as follows: Relativity will grab the global position of an object and transform that coordinate into the coordinate space of the controller null. - Using this information, and the # of frequencies value, Relativity will apply a Perlin fractal turbulence function to the coordinate and wrangle out a single value between 0 and 1 for that point. Example: X: X(SELF,t) + 0.5*FRAC(fracnull,3) this will add a bit of fractal noise to the X position of our object Tips for using Fractal noise: 1.Since the FRAC function will only return a single value for the coordinate of the item involved, you may want to use several fractal controllers to apply different fractal values to different motion channels of an item to shake things up a bit more. 2.The fractal controller null determines the size, position, and rotation of the fractal texture permeating throughout space. So, for example, you have an object sitting still, but you want it to wiggle a bit, no problem, move or rotate the fractal controller object(s) and the fractal texture at the objects location will change. Another example: Say you want an object to bump around very quickly, changing values dramatically at almost every frame, just scale the fractal controller null to a very small size, and youll reduce the size of the fractal lumps causing the texture to vary much more quickly from point to point. Conversely, larger scale values for the fractal controller will cause the variation to be much more smooth between points. Remembering these tips can give you a high degree of

BLEND(value 1, at point 1, value 2, at point 2, current position) TBLEND(value 1, at point 1, value 2, at point 2, current position)

Blend can be used to linearly blend between values 1 and 2, with the result of blend equaling value 1 when the current position expression is at at point 1, and will return value 2 when the current position expression is at at point 2. BLEND basically sets up a linear interpolation relationship between the values, and will over-interpolate if current position is less than at point 1 or is greater than at point 2... NOTE: over-interpolation is not necessarily a bad thing, as many mechanical relationships can be set up by knowing relationships between various values at two distinct points, which can be used to dene behavior outside of the range of those two points. If you desire the blend to stop when the current position goes outside the range specied by value 1 and value 2 , use TBLEND (short for Truncated-BLEND) instead.

Chapter 19: Animating Examples: BLEND(0,3,5,6,X(blender,t)) this would blend between the values 0 and 5, with 0 being returned by BLEND when X(blender,t) is 3, and 5 being returned when X(blender,t) is 6. Note: if X(blender,t) were 9, then the blend function would return 10 for its value, as it overinterpolates based on the value of X(blender,t). If this were a TBLEND instead, then the maximum value that the BLEND function would ever have would be 5, no matter how high X(blender,t) got. BLEND(X(obj1,t),0,X(obj2,t),1,X(blender,t)) this would blend from the X motion channel of obj1 when X(blender,t) is 0 to the X motion channel of obj2 when X(blender,t) is 1. So, basically, X(blender,t) can be used as a toggle to switch the motion of our item from obj1 to obj2. Dr. Target Dr. Matcher Dr. MoveVec Dr. Snake Maker

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The Relativity Staff Directory

The following information will give you an overview of the professors in Relativity and what they do. Dr. Item Picker Dr. Equation Maker Dr. Wheel Rotater Dr. Follower Dr. Oscillator Dr. Delayer Dr. Gear Grinder Dr. Cycler Dr. Motion Blender Dr. Blend Machinist Dr. Dist Maintainer Dr. Event Maker Dr. Camera Shaker Dr. Morph-o

Most of the professors in Relativity are accessed from the menu next to an expression slot on the Relativity panel. What they do, is allow the point-and-click automated setup of many commonly used expression set-ups. It is quite likely that this list will expand in future releases of Relativity. One thing to note about the professors: some professors are context sensitive, they will only set-up the expression for one motion slot at a time, and may change how they set up the expression based on which motion slot theyre being run from. Other professors work on a more global level, and can set up multiple motion expression slots all at once. A few will even commandeer some variable slots. This will be noted as we go through the documentation, professors that set up multiple slots will have the statement Multi-slot professor before their description.

Dr. Item Picker

Dr. Item Picker is a simple professor panel that will blast an object name onto the end of whatever you are typing. So, for instance, if you were typing: 2+X( and then forgot the name of the object you wanted, you could use Dr. Item picker to pick the name youre interested in...so you would end up with: 2+X(mynull and then you could add the ,t) to nish off the expression. If you need to insert an object name into an existing expression, like: 2*sin(XW(blah,t)) and realize that you forgot your object name and need to

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LightWave 9 - Layout

replace blah with the correct name, use Dr. Equation Maker below.

Dr. Wheel Rotater

This professor has a simple task, making your object rotate as it tracks the motion of some other object. To use it, pick the object that will drive this rotation (this will most often be the direct parent, or an otherwise ancestor of your object). However, there is nothing that can stop you from letting the objects own motion drive its own rotation. Here is a eldby-eld break-down of the panel: Object Driving the Rotation: This is the object whose motion will cause the rotation of our current object to occur. Pick Vehicle: Brings up the object picker panel to get a point-and-click selection of the object you want. Diameter: Here you enter the diameter (i.e. the total distance across) of the wheel.

Dr. Equation Maker

This professor is the most powerful, complex, and yet easyto-use in your arsenal. It turns the task of hand-building an expression into an exercise in point-and-click. Now, whether or not your expression does what you expect, thats up to you, but this professor will do all it can to help steer you in the right direction. On this panel, you have a total of eight menus that allow you to pick eight different possible elements that make up your expressions: LightWaves math constants and functions, Relativitys arsenal of expression functions, Rels special functions (for use only in the Special Function slot), Object names, bone names, light names, and special reserved Relativity objects (PARENT, SELF, camera, etc.). To use this professor, simply select what you want from a menu and click it into place. As you select items, the text control at the top will give you a description of the choice youve made, to make sure you have what youre looking for...in this sample image, X(obj,t) has been selected, and the description tells you what this Relativity function does. If you click Add Choice to Expression, the professor will append your choice to the current expression in the edit eld. You can also tell this professor that you want to insert a choice into the middle of your current expression, rather than just at the end. By placing an @ character wherever you want an insertion point, you can make the professor insert your next choice where the @ is, rather than at the end of the expression. So, we could start by selecting X(obj,t) and clicking that into place. Then we could edit out the obj and replace it with an @. Finally, we could select the actual object name we were interested in from the object menu, say it was called heavynull. Once we click the Add Choice to Expression button, heavynull will replace the @ character, turning our expression into X(heavynull,t).

Dr. Follower
Multi-slot professor This is the professor for setting up following motions of all kinds. You can set up many kinds of relationships, like a delayed following of another object, or have an object follow at a specied distance. You can even set up an offsetfollowing motion where an object or group of objects will follow a leader, yet maintain a respectable distance from it. Here is a break-down of the elds: Object to follow: This is the object we want to follow... this is hopefully not a hard concept to grasp Pick follow object: allows point-and-click selection of object Channels to follow: allows you to determine which channels were going to follow on...this will set up multiple expression slots at one time. Offset Motion by Difference at Frame 0: If this button is clicked on, then this object will follow its leader in a ocky sort of way...so the follower object will move with the leader, but maintain its relative position with respect to the leader. Follow at a specied distance: This slot, if it contains a

Chapter 19: Animating value, species that we want to follow at a specic path distance behind the lead object. This is useful for things like roller coasters, trains, etc. etc. where you need successive cars to maintain an exact distance behind the leader or behind the car in front of it. The distance will be maintained no matter how fast the lead object moves. Follow with a constant time delay: This slot, if lled, will cause the follower object to either lag behind or anticipate the motion of the lead object by a specied time delay. Optional Time Delay Control Object: This slot will allow you to specify an object (often a null) as a delay controller. Channels to Control: Select the channel(s) for the delay object to control. If you only select the X channel, the X channel of the object will control the delay on ALL THE MOTION CHANNELS of our follower object. Otherwise, the X channel of the delay control will determine the X delay, the Y channel will determine the Y delay. Unclicked channels will not have the delay controller specied in them. Use Object Extension for Follow Delay: This will multiply the objects numeric extension or clone number (i.e. the (1) in null (1) or the 3 in obj003.lwo) by the delay factor, either the time delay or the distance delay. This way, you could set up an expression for one object and copy it verbatim to other objects and have them lock into the right place behind the leader. Extension Offset: This is the offset for the extension... for instance, if you want object001.lwo to not have any delay, but object002.lwo to delay by one delay factor, you could make the offset 1, this would zero out any delay for object001 but turn it on for subsequent objects.

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bobbing up and down, wiggling around, weaving side-toside, etc.). The setup of this panel is quite simple: Channels to wiggle: Select any and all channels that you want to oscillate. Wiggles per second: This determines the frequency of the oscillation. Frequency Controller: You can optionally have a frequency controller instead, its set up so the X channel of the controller object controls the frequency (this can always be edited after the fact to a different channel). Wiggle Intensity: Determines the intensity of the oscillation. Intensity Controller: You can optionally have an intensity controller whose X channel controls the oscillation intensity.

Dr. Delayer
Multi-slot professor Dr. Delayer allows you to delay an objects own motion by an offset in time. This is useful for moving the dreaded locked 0 keyframe to another time, so cyclic motions can start off at frames other than 0. Its also possible, using a delay controller, to soften acceleration and deceleration much more than when using just tension on your spline values. Heres a breakdown of the elds on this professor: Fixed Time Delay: Enter a value (in seconds, or add a F at the end to specify frames) and your motion will be delayed by that amount. Delay Controller: Choose an object to control the amount of the delay, which makes the delay factor animatable. Channels of the controller object: This species which single channel of the delay controller will control the delay. You can also choose all channels to get a channel-by-channel delay control. Delay on which channels: Pick the channels to set up a delay on. Tie Delay to Object Extension: Use the object number

Dr. Oscillator
Multi-slot professor This professor is the one for setting up any and all oscillating motions (i.e. objects swinging back and forth,

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LightWave 9 - Layout moves backward. Oriented distance is probably what will be most often used. NOTE: if you happen to have constructed your object so that its forward end faces down the negative Z axis, you will need to go in by hand and edit the expression to have a negative ODIST value. Stride Length: Quite often a cycle will need to repeat over a specic distance (like 2 times the step distance of a character, or the distance around the path of a tank tread unit), the distance over which the cycle repeats is known as the stride length. Optional Length Delay: This eld can be used to push the cycle back over its stride length, used to offset opposing legs in a walk cycle, or pushing one element of many back down its path a little bit. Tie length delay to object extension: Use the clone number (i.e. the 3 in null (3), or the 10 in obj10.lwo) as a multiplier for the length delay. You can use this eld to create an expression that should automatically tailor itself to clones of that same object. Extension offset: This value is subtracted from the objects extension and can be used to turn the clone number of null (1) to 0, so the rst object doesnt have an offset along its path.

extension in the expression as a multiplier by the delay factor. This is useful for setting up a sequence of numbered objects to delay by specied amounts. Extension Offset: This value is subtracted from the object extension before applying it to the expression.

Dr. Gear Grinder

Dr. Gear Grinder is great for relating the rotation of one object to the rotation of another. You pick the controlling gear and then tell it the radius or diameter of each gear (note: you must use either radius or diameter values for both slots). If you are actually setting up gears, you could specify the number of teeth for each gear instead of radius.

Dr. Cycler
Dr. Cycler is the ultimate professor for setting up all sorts of nifty cyclic relationships in LightWave. Before you run the professor, though, you need to have a cyclic motion keyframed for your object. Dr. Cycler will take that cyclic motion and gure out a way to apply that motion over-andover-again (i.e. cyclically) over the course of your animation. Heres what all the elds mean: Motion Channel to Cycle on: The motion channel the cycle will be applied to. Object to Pull the Cycle from: You can select any object as the source of the cycle. In many cases, you would select SELF to choose the objects own keyframed motion as the basis for the cycle. First and Last frame of the Cycle: Again, this should be self-explanatory. Object driving the Cycle: This is the object whose motion is driving the cycle, unless you select time as the driving function, which makes the object irrelevant. Driving function: Choose what aspect of the objects motion is going to drive the cycle. Most of the options should be clear, path distance means the absolute path distance traveled by the object with no sense of orientation. Oriented distance will grow larger as the object moves forward and grow smaller as the object

Dr. Motion Blender

Multi-slot professor Dr. Motion Blender can be used to blend between the motion paths of two objects interactively during an animation. What applications that might have in your animations is entirely up to you. Here is a breakdown of the elds: Object 1 and Object 2: Pick the objects whose motions you want to blend between. NOTE: if you put SELF in for one of the objects, it would blend this objects own keyframed motion with something else. What Channels will we be blending between: Pick one or more motion channels for the motion blend. Constant Blend Percentage: Pick a constant blend percentage between the motions.

Chapter 19: Animating Blend Control Object: If this eld is lled, it negates the blend percentage eld. Use an object to control the blend. Channels of the controlling object: You can choose a single channel of the controlling object to control the blend on all channels of our blend object (for instance, the Y value of our object would control the blend as it moved from 0 to 1). If you pick All Channels, then the X value of the control object will determine the X blend percent, the Y value will control the Y blend, etc. Truncated Blend: If the control objects values get above 0 or 1, cut them off at 0 or 1, otherwise, youll get an overblend.

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First and Second Frame: Used if were blending time, at the lower blend value, the current motion channel will go back to the start frame. As the blend value increases to the upper blend value, the current motion channel will play along to end at the second frame value when the blend value reaches the upper value. Track what value for the blend: You can either click on a motion channel to track, or enter an explicit expression by clicking on the Custom Expr button and designing an expression using Dr. Equation Maker from the Expression button. Expression: Used when the Custom Expr button is clicked. Lower/Upper Blend Trigger Values: Lower and upper values for the blend to track. NOTE: if you need to set up a blend for more than one motion slot, you will need to reselect the professor next to each slot that you want set up.

Dr. Blend Machinist

Dr. Blend Machinist is one of the most powerful professors. Using this panel, you can set up lots of interesting relationships between objects, where one channel of one object control the action on one or more channels of another object. For instance, imagine a foot where you need the toes to curl as it lifts off the ground. Or imagine a mechanical system where you need a piston to expand and contract with a rotation. Or imagine a key-state animation, where you can control the opening and closing of multiple bones/segments using a single control null (or group of nulls)...basically any kind of reaction to some slider value... Blend Machinist can do these and much more. Heres a breakdown of the elds: Truncated Blend: This will cut off the blend as it reaches its min and max values, a non-truncated blend will continue the blend beyond the min and max values. Type of Blend: A blend between values will do just that, blend between two values. A time blend will push the time value back and forth and play back a keyframed motion. Quite often, a time-based blend is whats required to properly blend-animate a motion that has more than two distinct keyframed values. First and Second Value: These can either be straight numerical values or expressions unto themselves...only used if were blending between two values.

Dr. Dist Maintainer

Multi-slot professor In order to understand how to use this professor, you need to understand the two modes it works in. One is a linear distance maintainer, the other is a spherical distance maintainer. For the rst mode, its important that you choose wisely which motion slot you select the Dist Maintainer professor from, this will become the sliding axis. For instance, say you want an object to slide up and down the Y axis to try to keep its distance constant to some other object, you would then select Dr. Dist Maintainer next to the Y slot. Note that Dr. Dist Maintainer doesnt make much sense in the rotation or scaling slots. In spherical distance mode, the expressions generated will draw a line from the current object to the tracking object and measure the length of that line. It will then move the current object along that line until the distance is the value desired. Heres a breakdown of the elds:

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LightWave 9 - Layout value. Notice if you choose Dist > or Dist <, the From what object eld becomes active. Value: this is the value that our object must hit to trigger the event. Once it falls above or below this value (depending on whether you chose a greater-than or less-than button), the event will be triggered. From what object: If you are tracking distance, there needs to be an object to track the distance from. Play Event From/To Frame: Pick the rst and last frame that our object will play back in response to the event trigger. Closing Event: You can set up a closing event that happens when something else occurs. NOTE: if you are choosing to undo some action, like having a door close back shut, its important that you set up both events so that they are mutually exclusive...i.e. if you have a door open when an object gets closer than 1 meter, you should not have it close when the object gets out to 0.5 meters...otherwise, there will be a conict between the two conditions. All the other elds are functionally equivalent to the original event elds.

Other object: This the object that you want to maintain a constant distance to. Distance to maintain: Distance to the maintainer. Spherical distance: Throw the professor into spherical distance mode, as described in the preceding paragraph. If this button is off, the distance formula works in sliding-axis, linear mode.

Dr. Event Maker

Multi-slot professor Dr. Event Maker is one of the most powerful professors available in your arsenal. Using this professor, you can set up an animated event to play back when some particular action occurs: the object will play back its own keyframed motion in response. You can also set up a closing event for when the particular action undoes itself. A good example (indeed, an example scene), is a set of sliding doors, like on the turbo lift in Star Trek. As an object approaches the doors, they slide open, and then as the object gets far enough away, they slide shut again. But theres lots more events than that...play around, experiment...see what automated responses you can come up with. Heres what the elds on the panel do: Type of Event: If set to Resettable, the time of the event will reset every time the trigger event becomes false again, and then start ticking again while the trigger event is true. A one-time-only event will keep ticking even if the condition for the trigger event becomes false. Channels for Event: Pick the channels that you want this event to play back on. Note, you are selecting the objects own keyframed motion for this event. If you want to play another objects motion back instead, you will need to hand-edit the expressions generated to point to the object in question. Object to control the event: This is the object that were tracking. Look for Event: Here, you choose what event to look for. For now, it simply tracks whether a motion channel becomes greater than > or less than < a specic

Dr. Camera Shaker

Multi-slot professor This professor is great for not only setting up a camera shake when an event occurs, but also for making stuff jiggle with impact, and other sorts of impact-related events. Channels to shake up: Pick what channels you want to set the impact on. Next to each channel selector is a power eld...increasing this value will increase the intensity of the impact. Decreasing will do the opposite. Object that should shake the camera: This is the object that will make the camera shake occur. Look for Event: Look for either a motion channel or the distance of this object from another to either become less or greater than some value.

Chapter 19: Animating Length of shaking: Determines the length of the shaking. # Shakes/second: This is the frequency of the shaking, higher values for this will make faster shakes, lower values will make slower shakes. Would you like shake to fall off with distance?: You can have the shake fall off with distance. Distance when shake is optional: The impact expression will be at full force at this distance; closer, and it will become a super-impact; further, and it will become a soft impact. Quadratic Falloff: Make the impact distance expression fall off more rapidly as the object gets further away. A nonquadratic falloff doesnt decay down as rapidly as the object moves further from the camera. Would you like the shake to fall off with impact velocity?: Turning this on will cause the shake to change depending on how hard the object hits the ground. Velocity strength factor: Changing this to a higher value will make the shake more sensitive. Changing it lower will make it less sensitive.

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Type of morph: Normal is like LWs regular morph. Effector will apply a morph in an effector like fashion, in a spherical gradient around an effector object. Object to control morph: Choose an object to control the morph. Morph effector: This is the effector that controls an effector morph Min radius: This is the area around the morph effector when everything is fully morphed. Max radius: In the area between the max and min radius, points close to the max will be barely morphed, while points close to the min will be almost fully morphed. Points outside the max radius are not morphed at all. I want a min and max null: Choose a min and max null to interactively animate the min and max values for the effector. min null: The minimum value for the null max null: The maximum value for the null. NOTE: These last two dont have to be nulls, but usually are.

Dr. Morph-o
Dr. Morph-o is the professor to use for setting up Relativity morphs. It should be noted that Dr. Morph-o currently only sets up morph expressions with either a morph controller or an effector. If you need some other expression to control a morph other than just the X value of a control null, you will need to hand-edit the expression to make it happen. Target: This is the target for the morph. NOTE: it doesnt have to have the same number of points as the base object, but it would be quite advisable. Sign of morph: Determines how the morph is applied; replace is like LWs traditional morph; add will add the values of the target points to the base object; subtract will subtract the points; difference is a cool morph, it morphs only points that are different between the base and target objects.

Dr. Target
Dr. Target is used to set up a targeting relationship between the current object and a target.

Dr. Matcher
Dr. Matcher is used to match an unparented, free-oating object to an object or bone deep in a hierarchy. If you want to dynamically parent/unparent an object to another, heres how to set it up: 1. create a null and use Dr. Matcher to match to whatever child object/bone/whatever youre interested in.

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LightWave 9 - Layout Bone name prex: Each bone will be named with whatever prex you choose, followed by a number...i.e. SnakBon01, SnakBon02, etc. Target name prex: The way a bone snake is set up in Relativity, a train of nulls follows your object around, and the bones target those nulls. This lets you choose the prex for each target null.

2. set up a motion blend using Dr. Motion Blender between your unparented object and the MATCHd null. 3. when you want the object to move from unparented to parented, quickly keyframe the blend null over one frame. If you need to have motion blur and not have your object do some sort of odd sub-frame rotation, you might want to change the expressions for the Motion Blend from: X=BLEND(X(SELF,t),0,X(matcher,t),1,X(blah,t)) to X=BLEND(X(SELF,t),0,X(matcher,t),1,IF(X(blah,t)>0)) That will cause your motion blend to be instantaneous, even on a sub-frame level.

Dr. MoveVec
Dr. MoveVec sets up a really odd form of motion...basically, whichever way a MOVEVECd object is turned, it will move in that direction. This was originally done as a means of making an object move as if it were under the inuence of a joystick...just set up an expression to make it rotate accordingly and the object will act like its in a video game.

Dr. Snake Maker

Dr. Snake Maker is a generic level plugin that can set up a scene for you with a bone-snake (for path-level deformations) stretching through an object. Heres a breakdown of the elds: Set up bones for object: Picks your object. How many bones do you want: Tell it how many bones in the snake. Keep in mind, you want to balance between having enough bones for a smooth path deformation but not having so many that the scene becomes unwieldly. How long is your object: Measures your object and tell the nice professor how long it is. As an aside, the head of your object should rest at the origin (i.e. XYZ=0,0,0) and the tail stretch out into positive Z.

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Chapter 20: Dynamics

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LightWave 9 - Layout HV Emitter, which adds a HyperVoxels Emitter to the scene, and Partigon Emitter, which adds an emitter of single point polygons (partigons) to the scene

Introduction
LightWave provides the user with tools for simulation of real-world physics and dynamics. With these tools you can make your objects behave with the characteristics of cloth or of elastic or rigid bodies, and set characteristics for the environment in which your objects are interacting. You can also apply dynamics to the skeleton of your characters or articulated mechanisms, so that they too respond in a realistic simulation of an environment with gravity or wind, other objects to collide with, etc. Well begin our discussion of LightWaves dynamics with the modules for simulation of cloth, soft bodies, rigid bodies and particle effects. This will include a look at the integrated functions for wind, gravity, and more.

FX Browser
The FX Browser Panel is where you can add various controllers. From here, you can also open the property panels for the controllers that you add. To open this panel, choose Utilities > Additional> FX_Browser.

Adding Dynamics to your Scene and Objects

Items: Add: Dynamic Object
One way to quickly add dynamic objects to your scene is to use the Add Dynamic Object drop down list (Items> Add Dynamic Obj). Choose between Collision, Wind, Gravity, and Particle from the drop down menu. You can add one or more of these controllers to your scene. Then, each can be set with its own Parameter settings to create just the effect you are looking for. A dialog prompts you for a name when you add a dynamic object. Click OK to accept the default or type in the name you wish to use and click OK. Collision-The Collision controller lets you add an element for the particles and/or dynamic objects in the scene to bump into. Wind- The Wind controller lets you add wind to blow your particles and/or dynamic objects around. Gravity- Add a Gravity controller to add gravity-like effects to your particles and/or dynamic objects motions. Particle- The Particle Emitter controller is the controller and the source for particles. There are two emitter selections:

To add an FX controller:
From the Add pop-up menu, choose the controller you wish to add, load, or apply.

NOTE: FX controllers can also be applied to an item in the Dynamics Tab of the Object Properties Panel.

Chapter 20: Dynamics NOTE: When you add a controller from the FX Browser that is not one of the Apply options, a null object is added to the scene. Then, an FX custom object plugin is added (e.g., FX_ Emitter, FX_Wind, etc.). Just check out the Dynamics Tab of the Object Properties Panel.

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The Start Button

Some effects require a pre-calculation before they can be previewed in your animations. These are instances where you have particles interacting or have post-deformed geometry. By activating the Start button, the FX will begin solving any simulations that are currently setup in the scene. The progress of the simulation is displayed in the output pane located at the bottom of the Particle FX Browser. A shortcut to this is on Layouts toolbar at Modify > IKB Calculate. NOTE: Many scenes dont need this step, but clicking Start wont do any harm if you are unsure.

To delete a controller:
Select and clear, just as you would any other Layout item (Items > Clear Selected Item or - on the numeric keypad).

To open a controllers property panel:

Choose the controller from the Item pop-up menu and click the Property button to open the Properties Panel for the selected controller.

The Save Button

Clicking the Save button saves all controller motions, using individual les, to your FX directory (dened on the Option dialog). These can be loaded using the Load Motion option on the Controllers Properties Panel.

Options Dialog
NOTE: You can also display the Property Panel for the currently selected controller by choosing Utilities > FX_Property or by accessing the Dynamics Tab in the Object Properties Panel. The Options dialog has some options that affect the manner in which LightWave computes controllers.

HINT: You can open multiple property windows, one per dynamic type, by holding CTRL then changing the selection in the Item Select Menu.

The Background Job option activates multithreading. The update by Background Job option will update Layout when background tasks are complete. In most cases, you should leave these options in their default state of off.

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LightWave 9 - Layout based on your CPU performance. This setting attempts to keep interactive performance at a useful level. User turns off particle updating completely. You may force an update by either clicking the Start button on the Particle FX Browser, or the Update button on the File Tab of the Emitter Controller Panel. This setting is useful in situations with heavy particle counts.

The Resolution setting adjusts the parameter used when performing the physics simulations. The smaller the Resolution setting is, the more accurate the simulation will be. However, this also has a direct effect on the rendering times. In this dialog you can also set the FX Directory. This is the default directory used when saving Controller settings.

Real-time Display
Just click the Play button in Layout and as you tweak the various controller parameters, you get real-time updates of how your changes affect the particles. NOTE: Scenes with particles interacting or with post-deformed geometry require you to click the Start button rst to pre-compute some motions. Clicking Start wont do any harm if you are unsure. You can control how FX Controllers are updated using the UpdateMode pop-up menu.

Groups
You can group Dynamic objects with a user-dened name to prevent unwanted interaction. This also works with Particle FX controllers. This becomes very handy when you are working on a complex scene and you want certain Wind emitters to only affect certain objects. <All Group> Includes all groups. <default> Includes all items in scene. <new group> Create individual group. Can associate functions within a group. NOTE: You can associate with particle FXs functions using group function. If it is in the same group, you can associate settings. Also, if you do not want to associate, just by removing from the group, you can disregard the association.

Auto updates all emitters as parameters are modied. Use this for fast systems or in low-particle count simulations. If you have multiple emitters and are using the Select update, then only the emitter showing in the Select pop-up menu, if any, will be updated. Adaptive dynamically scales the number of visible particles

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Object Properties: Dynamics Tab

Add: Dynamic Object: Particles menu option to add the HV Emitter. Wind- adds a Wind controller to the scene, which can be placed, sized and oriented to affect a specic portion of the virtual stage. Collision- adds a Collision controller to the scene, which can be placed, sized and oriented to affect a specic portion of the virtual stage. Gravity- adds a Gravity controller to the scene, which can be placed, sized and oriented to affect a specic portion of the virtual stage.

Dynamics List Window

Add some text here describing the operation of the list window and how it is used. Figure 1: Dynamics Tab, Add Dynamic drop-down menu. The Dynamics Tab of the Object Properties Panel is where you can Add Dynamics and manipulate their settings.

Calculate
Clicking on the Calculate button will perform the dynamics calculations for the scene. If the FX Browser is not open, please note that if you change focus to another application or attempt to move the Object properties panel, the viewports will stop tracking the dynamics progress and stop refreshing. Layout will appear to be locked up, but the calculations are continuing, and the interface will refresh again when they are complete. Having FX Browser (Utilities/Plug-ins/Additional/FX Browser) open during calculations is therefore recommended to avoid the appearance of a lockup.

Add Dynamic
The Add Dynamic Drop Down menu lets you select Dynamics to apply to an object. Add Dynamic choices: Cloth- ClothFX, applies Cloth Dynamics to a target object. Soft- SoftFX, applies Soft Body Dynamics to a target object. Hard- HardFX, applies Hard Body (Rigid Body) Dynamics to a target object. Emitter- adds a ParticleFX Particle or Partigon Emitter to the scene. Note that if you wish to add a HyperVoxel emitter rather than a particle emitter, you should use the Item:

IKB Menu: Bone Dynamics

Bone Dynamics
This option enables and disables all bone dynamic functions for the object that IK Booster has been applied to.

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LightWave 9 - Layout ClothFX options.

Cloth Dynamics
Cloth Dynamics (ClothFX) have a variety of uses for supplying physical characteristics and natural movement simulation to thin, exible materials. Examples: Clothing on a character such as a dress or shirt Flag blowing in the wind Curtains Tablecloth or anything that needs to be draped over another object Mud aps on a truck Hair

Sew function in use

Basic Tab

Basic Tab menu

ClothFX Menu Tabs, Basic Tab menu

Cloth Dynamics are located in the Dynamics Tab of the Object Properties Panel. Choose Cloth from the Add Dynamic drop down list and then follow that by clicking on ClothFX in the Dynamics list window to open up the

Group- you can group Dynamic objects with a user-dened name to prevent unwanted interaction. This also works with ParticleFX controllers. This becomes very handy when you are working on a complex scene and you want certain Wind emitters to affect only certain objects. Fix- The shape of polygons with Fix on remains intact and is not affected by the dynamics. In the image below, the ends of the cloth have been Fixed so that they stay in place

Chapter 20: Dynamics while the rest of the geometry is pulled down by gravity.

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Viscosity value tends to keep its shape more. If an object bounces, a higher Viscosity value will have less bounce motion because the Viscosity absorbs the bouncing force. The pieces of cloth below are the same except for the Viscosity parameter. Here, a ball is moving up, pushing the piece of a cloth. The cloth with the higher Viscosity value tends to keep its shape more.

Fix applied to polygons indicated inside orange outlines these stay in place, while gravity affects the rest of thecloth object.

Weight- denes the weight of the material. You can simulate the motions of a heavy material by increasing the Weight value, and you can simulate the motions of a light material by decreasing Weight.

Effect of viscosity parameter on cloth. Left = lower viscosity, Right = higher viscosity

The dress on the right hangs down more due to its weight and also will not ap as much.

Spring- controls the springiness or stiffness of the material. Reducing the Spring coefcient creates soft motions, while raising Spring produces motions with a stronger repelling force. Setting the coefcient to an extremely large value creates stiff motions. Viscosity- controls the level of impact that a collision will have on the shape of an object. An object with higher

Resistance- This parameter is not a characteristic of the object itself, even though it can be set per object. Resistance controls the amount of resistance of the environmental medium in which the simulation is taking place. For example, this affects how quickly a cloth object moves through the virtual air in the scene by determining how thick the virtual air is. The default setting is 1.0; raising this number increases the resistance and lowering to a number between 1.0 and 0.0 decreases the resistance. This allows the simulation of a wide range of gaseous or even liquid media as the environment for the physical simulation. A negative number amplies a collision of the cloth object. To simulate behavior within a normal atmosphere at sea level, a value of .14 would be appropriate. A value of 1.0 gives the medium a character close to that of molasses.

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LightWave 9 - Layout NOTE: If you are coming to LightWave from Maya, the function that is most similar from that application is Damping. NOTE: The effect of Hold-structure is uniform throughout the surface, while with Sub-structure it is non-linear, which will often result in a more natural look. You can use a combination of both to achieve just the right result. FX Button- Allows you to use a Vertex Map to control the value of an attribute (spring, viscosity, etc) or a function (delay, wave size, compress bump).

Sub-Structure- The surface of a pure, elastic body model has a high degree of freedom, which causes the object to easily distort. To prevent distortion, you can apply an auxiliary form, called a Sub-structure, to restrict the instability of the surface. This can improve your results with a two-dimensional object (i.e., one with no thickness) making it act as if it has some thickness. However, this reinforcement can require a high Sub-Structure setting that can take longer to calculate. When Sub-Structure is used on a square mesh, it creates something that looks like two triangular polygons placed on top of each other in opposite directions. The Sub-structure mitigates the tendencies to bend and to resist bending in certain directions.

FX Drop Down menu buttons

FX Drop Down Menu showing available options for surfaces to control the value of an attribute.

Substructure applied to the quadrangles of a mesh.

When the Sub-structure value is non-zero, the auxiliary form is applied. The higher the value, the more the form will have a tendency to keep its shape. Hold-Structure- because a pure elastic body model simulates only the surface structure, it is limited to twodimensional motions, such as a bed sheet. In order to simulate elastic three-dimensional motions, such as a lump of gelatin, a Hold-structure needs to be used. This parameter causes a surface to tend to maintain its original shape, like gelatin does when it jiggles.

Base value requestor

From the FX drop down menu the user can select a Vertex Map as well as change the base value. Vertex Map Will be displayed by name and type. Example: LeftArm/Weightmap

Chapter 20: Dynamics Weight Map The weight value of each point is dened in Modeler when you create a Weight Map. In Layout you cannot edit Vertex Map values. But the FX button allows you to add a modier that, when combined with the original values of the Vertex Map, provides a way to adjust the values of the selected attribute/function without changing the original Vertex Map value. Pointset A pointset is created in Modeler. In Layout you cannot add or subtract points from a pointset. But the FX button allows you to add a modier that, when combined with the pointset (value of 100%), provides a way to adjust values of the selected attribute/function. Surface Surfaces are created in Modeler. In Layout you cannot add or subtract points from a surface. But the FX button allows you to add a modier that, when combined with the surface (value of 100%), provides a way to adjust values of the selected attribute/function. UV UV maps are created in Modeler. In Layout you cannot add or subtract points from a UV. But the FX button allows you to add a modier that, when combined with the UVs value, provides a way to adjust values of the selected attribute/function. NOTE: You can always check value information for points in the Point Info windows.

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Collision Tab

Collision Tab

Record Collision Points- When this is activated, ClothFX will record the time and location of a collision, which will trigger a particle emitter that has been set up and that is parented to the ClothFX object. NOTE: Record CP works with ParticleFX and Nozzle=Parent collision, but you cannot use it with FX Collision and Parent Recorded CP (FX emitter>playback mode). Fix By Event- This function will x points that pass through a collision object that is set to Event mode. Collision Detect- allows other objects to inuence the motion of a dynamic object. This lets you create complex motions caused by obstacles in the path of the dynamic object. The simulation is performed by taking an object that collides (the collision object) with the elastic body model (dynamic object) into account in the calculation. Exclusive Collision- When a collision object is selected from the list in this control parameter, it becomes the sole collision object. All other collision objects are excluded from the calculation.

Base Selecting the <base = 0> option from the FX Drop Down menu will open a small requester that allows the user to edit the base value. Changing the base value changes the effective range. Example: Base=0% (0 100), Base=20% ( 20 100). The base value is 0% by default. NOTE: For those interested, the equation used to calculate the vertex point value is: Vp = Vmap * value+ (1- Vmap) * base.

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LightWave 9 - Layout

Interaction- By Default you would want Interaction set to All so that all geometry will interact with each other. However you have the option of limiting the interaction by Vertex Maps. Collision Offset- By default the collision offset is set to 0 so that the collision object will collide with the surface of the target object, allowing the target object to deform. Increasing the Collision Offset will result in the collision object deforming the target object at the distance specied in the Collision Offset eld.

The settings on the right image have a higher friction causing the cloth to stick to the collision object.

Fix Force- causes the dynamic object to stick to the surface and not slide around.

Collision offset

You should understand that the collision is detected using a point on the target object (elastic body model) and a polygon of the collision object. As a result, a polygon of the target object can possibly penetrate the collision object usually an undesirable result. Use the Collision Offset setting to avoid undesired surface penetration. Bound- adds a rebounding speed change at collision. Friction- Like real-world friction, the Friction parameter makes the surface of the dynamic object less slippery. So, if you want the Dynamic object to tend to slip off the collision object, set Friction to 0. If you want it to stick more, increase the value.

The image on the right has a higher Fix Force setting.

Self Collision- The Self Collision setting helps prevent a soft or cloth objects mesh from passing through itself when the object is transformed during the simulation. Self Collision is calculated based on a point on the target object and a polygon on the collision object. If a surface has Self Collision and Collision Detection active, Self Collision is computed on the same surface. Self Collision works in much the same way Collision Detection does, and there is no collision detection for polygon edges. As such, you may also want to adjust Collision Offset to avoid errant point penetrations. Connected- Connected is a Self-Collision option that derives its name from the Select Connected option in Modeler. When activated, a contiguous mesh within an

Chapter 20: Dynamics object can self-collide. When deactivated, adjacent meshes within a single object can self-collide with each other, but any given mesh will not be able to collide with itself. An example would be a character object that has been modeled with a complete body mesh and with clothing as additional meshes that are not part of the body mesh, such as a T-shirt. The T-shirt and the body of the character would be separate contiguous meshes -- that is, in Modeler, selecting a few polygons on the T-shirt and hitting Select Connected will select all of the polygons of the T-shirt, but not select the polygons of the body. Selecting a few polygons on the body and hitting Select Connected will select all of the polygons of the body, but not the T-shirt. In ClothFX, if Self-Collision is on but Connected is deactivated, the T-shirt can collide with the body, but not with itself. If Connected is activated, the T-shirt can collide with itself and with the body of the character. Deactivating Connected, then, can speed up a self-collision calculation at the cost of accuracy. Use only when separate meshes contained within a single object layer must collide against each other, but do not have to collide with themselves. Do not deactivate this option when dealing with curtains, windsocks, or any other situation where the material must self-collide with areas actually connected to itself. Double Side- Collision is detected even if the motion is from behind the polygon.

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Resistance Mode- Resistance mode tells the Resistance setting in Basic Tab how to react. With some amount of Resistance applied, you can see as you change Mode settings how the polygons will resist wind effects. None- points move based on wind direction. Polygon- points move based on wind direction + point normal. Polygon (front)- points facing the wind move based on wind direction + point normal. Polygon (back)- points facing away from wind move based on wind direction + point normal. NOTE: Resistance Mode settings only apply to wind.

Mode Ratio- sets the amount of Resistance applied to specic effects set by Resistance Mode versus standard. 75% sets 75% of the Resistance Mode and 25% of the standard resistance. Compress Stress- controls the amount of compression a surface exhibits as a result of stress. A soft fabric like cotton can be made using a large Spring value and a low Compress Stress setting. A stiffer fabric would use a higher Compress Stress setting. An example for use: you could easily make the apparent thickness of drapery vary with this setting. Note: Compress Stress affects the strength of Spring and Substructure spring forces when they become compressed during the calculation. Suppose a polygonal edge, which represents a Spring force, is 1m in length, and the Spring strength is set to 1000 and the Compress Stress to 30%. If the material is stretched so that the edge becomes more than 1m in length, the Spring force will snap back with its full force of 1000. If the material is compressed so that the edge becomes less than 1m in length, the Spring force will push the points back with a force of only 300 (30% of 1000). The same Compress Stress percentage applies to Sub Structure forces when a Sub Structure spring is compressed below its original length.

Advanced Tab

Figure 16: Advanced Tab

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LightWave 9 - Layout maps, or morphs on the rst frame of the calculation, the object is considered to be stressed and will regain its true proportions during the calculation. For example, take a sheet of polygons aligned with the XY plane and x the uppermost row of points. If this object is stretched to a value of 4 on the Y axis, and Relax Start is turned ON, then the stretched version is accepted as the true version, and the calculation will be for a tall version of the object, without any great fuss. If Relax Start is turned OFF, then the unstretched version is regarded as the true form of the object. Because the object is stretched to four times its original size on the rst frame of the calculation, the effect is as though the object begins by being stretched like a rubber band. As soon as you hit Calculate, the nonxed points of this non-relaxed object will SNAP back into distances between themselves and their neighbors that more closely resemble the distances between them in the undistorted version of the object as would be seen in Modeler.

Stretch Limit- To prevent a surface from stretching like rubber, lower the Stretch-limit below the default value of 100%. This restricts the amount that the surface can be stretched. Setting Stretch Limit to 0% turns it off completely. For free-moving cloth like ags and curtains, one might set it as low as 1%. However, give clothing some breathing room in the Stretch Limit, and do not lower it below 10% for clothing items like sleeves, shirts, and pants. To reduce sagging in clothing, reduce the Polygon Size, not the Stretch Limit. NOTE: Although you could also increase the Spring value to reduce stretching, increasing that value can make the behavior of the surface too complex and cause problems such as weird folds. Polygon Size- Changes the surface to a specied size. For example, a value of 90% reduces the size of the surface to 90%. Use Polygon Size to reduce the looseness of a dress or to create frills. Fiber effect- Allows you to set an axis for the traditional Fiber effect, basically making a certain axis stronger than the others. For example, setting Y as the axis makes the built-in folds of the dress (dress_fx002) stronger so the folds arent disregarded during calculation. Relax Start - When this option is on, the ClothFX object starts out with no Stress State, meaning that the object is considered to be in its true or base state. Thus, if any displacements are applied to the object on the rst frame of the calculation, the resulting form will be considered the true or base form of the object. This includes any Stretch/Size, bones, displacement maps, or morphs present on the rst frame of the calculation. ClothFX will respect the size of each polygonal edge as the true length of each polygonal edge, and it will stick close to the distorted proportions of the object during the calculation. When Relax Start is turned off, ClothFX considers the undistorted state of the object as it would be seen in Modeler to be the true or base state of the object. If the object is deformed by Stretch/Size, bones, displacement

Etc. Tab

Figure 17: Etc. Tab. Note that the entry shown would be the setting to use for Earth-normal gravity.

Gravity(m/s^2)- Specify the direction and intensity of gravity along the world axes for this particular dynamic object. Note that when you set gravity in the Etc Tab for your dynamic object, it is not necessary to add a gravity controller separately. Conversely, if you add a gravity controller and set your gravity characteristics properly there, it will not be necessary to set gravity for the dynamic object on the Etc Tab. If you have a number of objects in the

Chapter 20: Dynamics scene that you wish to have affected by gravity, then it might save effort to add a gravity controller and properly set it up and size it to affect all the necessary objects. HINT: The gravitational acceleration constant on earth is 9.81m/s^2. On planets with a less strong gravitational pull, (such as the moon) it is much lower, whereas on planets with a stronger pull (such as Jupiter) it is much higher. In LightWaves coordinate system, you would set gravity by entering a negative value in the Y entry eld; -9.81 m for Earthnormal gravity. Resolution- Set the accuracy of calculation by how big the maximum error is. When it approaches 0 the accuracy increases and errors will decrease, but calculation workload will also increase so it will take more time to calculate. View Feedback- Set the feedback in Layout when controlling ClothFX. When the display is poor or the display speed is slow, you uncheck this. Numeric Feedback- Set the numerical feedback in Layout when controlling ClothFX. When the display is poor or the display speed is slow, you uncheck this. Presets- Similar to surface presets, ClothFX has 5 built in presets that give you a good place to start. Presets include: Cotton Thin, Cotton Thick, Silk, Rubber, Jelly.
Figure 18: File Tab

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File Tab

Load Motion- Loads a previously generated Motion le. Clear Motion- Clears a loaded Motion le. Save Motion- saves the generated motion to a le, which will be used subsequently to deform the object. NOTE: After a motion le is saved, the name of the le will automatically be entered into the load eld. Load Limit- Loads a limited range of Frames. Example: If you have a MDD le with 2000 frames of data you can limit loading to just 100 frames to make it less memory and processor intensive. Playback Mode Normal- Plays back all Motion settings of the .mdd le. Local- Plays back based on the local translations (move, rotate and scale) of the object. Allows a .mdd deformation on an object while respecting new motion applied to that object.

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LightWave 9 - Layout Oscillate -Plays the Motion from start to nish and then plays it from the end frame backwards to the start frame and then repeats the cycle. (Ping Pong motion) Motion Size - Motion Size increases the distance relationship between points in a motion le. Copy- Use the Copy button to copy the current settings between dynamic objects. Paste - Use the Paste button to paste the current settings between dynamic objects. Save- Saves all the settings contained in the ClothFX properties. Load- Loads a saved Settings le. This is similar to using a Preset. Scan Motion- Scans the motion of the object and applies the scanned results (.mdd le) to the object. This means you dont have to apply another plug-in to scan the motion (including bones, etc). It eliminates the steps of loading the motion le back in, and also enables you to quickly scan an objects motion to allow for the use of EditFX on an object even if its not using dynamics. Info- Clicking the Info button brings up a window that gives you the version # of ClothFX and the MDD le information.

Distance Map - This adjusts the motion data to the movement of the object. When the speed is 100%, 1s (second) of motion data is used to move the object a distance of 1m. Speed- When Playback Mode is set to Local or Distant the user is able to control the playback speed. One can also play the MDD le backwards from by setting Speed to 100% and inputting the frame-length of the MDD le into Shift Frames. For example, if the user recorded a 300-frame MDD le, he could play it backwards by setting the Playback Mode to Local, the Speed to 100% and the Shift Frames value to 300 Node Match- When Node Match is activated, the motion data can be played back on the objects local position. Node Match allows one to play back MDD data recorded from an object with a different point count and order as long as the points share the exact same XYZ coordinates in Modeler. For example, suppose you had a castle model with a ag on top. One could run ClothFX on the whole castle, but this would result in a large MDD le for such a tiny detail, the ag. So, in Modeler, delete the castle polys and save the ag as a different object. Record the ClothFX calculations on the ag, and save the MDD le. Load the castle into Layout, apply ClothFX, load the MDD le calculated from the ag, set the playback to Local and activate Node Match. Node Match will remap the MDD data recorded from the ag-only object to the XYZ equivalents on the castlewith-ag geometry Shift Frames- The user can shift the time the motion starts. Use Shift Frames if you need the motion to start on an earlier or later frame. By default, the number entered is regarded as a number of seconds to shift the .mdd le. If you prefer to use frames, enter the number of frames followed by the letter f; -400f, for example, to shift so that the motion in the .mdd le starts at frame -400. Loop - The user has the option to loop the motion le in two ways. Repeat- Plays the motion from start to nish and then repeats the motion from start to nish continually.

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EditFX Tab

EditNode- Specify the ID number of the point to be edited. If the EditTool is activated, you can select the target point from the Layout viewports by clicking on the point. EditFrame- There are 4 modes to edit the Nodes (point) motion path. All- will edit the entire Motion Path. After- will edit the current frame and everything after it. Before - will edit the current Frame and everything before it. Current- will edit only the current Frame. EditStart/EditEnd- Use the EditStart and EditEnd Fix options to set the range of frames that the user will be able to edit. All other frames will be xed (locked). EditSize- (Edit Range) This eld changes the inuence range. Edit Falloff- This drop down is located to the left of EditSize. This will change the Falloff settings to either None, Soft, Linear, or Hard. As shown in Figure 19, by default the setting is Soft. None - All vertices are inuenced; in other words the whole mesh moves. Linear- Deformation in the range of EditSize is attenuated linearly. Soft- Deformation is attenuated smoothly in the range of EditSize.

Figure 19: EditFX Tab

EditTool- Activates the ability to edit points. You will be able to visually see that youre in Edit Mode in the viewport. All the points that make up the object will become highlighted and all the EditTool functions will become active.

Figure 20: Sew function applied

Hard- Deformation occurs uniformly in the range of EditSize, and is not attenuated. EditAxis- This sets the axis/axes in which the Node (point) can be edited. (All, X, Y, or Z)

Undo- The EditTool has its own undo. Click this button to undo the last edit that was made. You can only undo one edit.

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LightWave 9 - Layout NOTE: You do not have to re-calculate when you move the path or keyframe data with EditAxis. Current Sew Object- Drop down list located to the right of the Sewing tool enables the user to choose which object is being sewn. Link Node- Displays the Node that has been selected. Event- This drop down menu determines whether the linked nodes will be Cut by an event or sewn by an event. Cut by Event- When an Event object passes through the Nodes (points), they will break apart and become separated. Sew by Event- When an Event object passes through the Nodes (points) they will be sewn together (Merged).

EditMap- This option lets you limit the portion of the object that is editable by giving the user the option to edit by Vertex Maps. SelectUpdate- When activated, you can re-calculate only the parts selected by EditNode. To re-calculate, click Calculate with SelectUpdate checked. Command- The Command drop-down offers two commands for use during the editing process, Smooth and Makepath. Smooth- Referring to the current frame, the movement of the parts that were selected by EditNode will be smoothed. When EditStart and EditEnd are not specied, the movement of the selected parts to the current position will be smoothed across all the frames. When EditStart and EditEnd are specied, it will make the position information smooth from the specied frames to the current frame. Makepath-This command will create a Null object whose path is identical to the motion path of the selected part. Sewing Tool- Enables Sewing Mode. Sewing Mode gives the user the ability to sew Nodes (points) together. Sewing- This button is the third step in a three-step process of sewing Nodes together using the Sewing tool. Steps to Sewing: Left Click on the rst point and Right Click on the second point. Then click on the Sewing button.

Soft Body Dynamics

Soft Body Dynamics (SoftFX) are used to set physical behavior characteristics and to calculate physical simulations for an object that is intended to have an elastic nature through all or a portion of its volume. Generally a soft body maintains its volume, but the shape will vary based on motion and on forces being applied in the scene, including collision with other objects. Some examples: Jello wiggling on a plate The Pillsbury Dough Boy's tummy jiggling as he jumps around A at tire opping as the vehicle comes to a stop A ball deforming as it bounces on a oor

SoftFX is located in the Dynamics Tab of the Object Properties Panel. Choose Soft from the Add Dynamic drop down list and then follow that by clicking on SoftFX in the dynamics list window to open up the SoftFX options.

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are working on a complex scene and you want certain Wind emitters to affect only certain objects. Delay- Delays the deformation by a set amount of frames. Delay will not take effect until the Delay check box is selected for motion force, wind force, or wind force direction. FX Button- Allows you to use a Vertex Map to control the value of an attribute (spring, viscosity, etc) or a function (delay, wave size, compress bump). From the Effects drop down menu the user can select a Vertex Map as well as change the base value. Vertex Map Will be displayed by name and type. Example: LeftArm/Weightmap Weightmap The weight value of each point is dened in Modeler when you create a Weight Map. In Layout you cannot edit Vertex Map values. But the FX button allows you to add a modier, that combined with the original values of the Vertex Map provides a way to adjust values of the selected attribute/function without changing the original Vertex Map value. Pointset A pointset is created in Modeler. In Layout you cannot add or subtract points from a pointset. But the FX button allows you to add a modier, that combined with the pointset (value of 100%) provides a way to adjust values of the selected attribute/function. Surface Surfaces are created in Modeler. In Layout you cannot add or subtract points from a surface. But the FX button allows you to add a modier, that combined with the surface (value of 100%) provides a way to adjust values of the selected attribute/function. UV UVs are created in Modeler. In Layout you cannot add or subtract points from a UV. But the FX button allows you to add a modier, that combined with the UVs value provides a way to adjust values of the selected attribute/ function.

Input Tab

Group- you can group Dynamic objects with a user-dened name to prevent unwanted interaction. This also works with ParticleFX controllers. This becomes very handy when you

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LightWave 9 - Layout NOTE: You can always check value information for points in the Point Info windows.

Operator Tab

Base The base value is 0% by default. Changing the base value changes the effective range. Example: Base=0% (0 100), Base=20% ( 20 100). NOTE: For those interested this is the equation used to calculate the vertex point value. Vp = Vmap * value+ (1- Vmap) *

base.

SoftFX has 3 inputs: Motion, Wind and Force. Motion Force- Uses the Delay setting based on the motion of the object. The user has the ability to change the amplitude as well as apply an envelope. Motion Force Delay check box- Activates the Delay setting for Motion Force. Wind Force- Uses the Delay setting based on wind present in the scene. The user has the ability to change the amplitude as well as apply an envelope. Wind Force Delay check box- Activates the Delay setting for Wind Force. Force Direction- Forces the object to move along the axis selected (X, Y, or Z). Force Direction Delay- Activates the Delay setting for Direction Force. Force By Key- Only works when an envelope is applied. Takes the keyframes in the envelope and applies a force for every key. Force- The value that Force Direction uses. The user has the ability to apply an envelope. Operator 1 and 2 Map a deformation can be applied to nothing, everything or a particular Vertex Map. Mode- How the Operator Map affects the objects deformation. None default (no change) Square Dampens the Operator Map so that the map is affecting the object deformation 0% at the start of the map to 100% at the end of the map. Invert- Reverses the Operator Maps original effect on the objects deformation. Quad - Divides the maps effect on deformation into 4 equal regions. Inv Square Reverse of Square. 100% at the start of the map and 0% at the end. Inv Quad Reverse of Quad. Effect Size- increases the amplitude of the deformation.

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Operator Switch (blend operator)- if set to 50% it uses both Operator 1 and Operator 2 Map equally. If set to 0%, it uses 100% of Operator 1 Map. At 100%, it uses 100% of Operator 2 Map. You can also have a Texture Map which will control this blending.

Deform Tab
Effectsize 50%, Effectsize 200%

Wavecycle - number of cycles inside the deformation.

Wavecycle 1.0, Wavecycle 8.0

Wave Size(s)- the frequency of the deformation. Collision Detect- reects the inuence of other objects upon the motion of an object. This lets you create complex motions caused by obstacles. The simulation is performed by taking an object that collides (the collision object) with the elastic body model (dynamic object) into the calculation. Exclusive Collision- Selecting an item from this list will exclude all other collision objects from the calculation.
Wavesize 0.1, Wavesize 0.4

Op1 Motion/Op2 Wind- Limits the operator 1 map to the motion of the object and limits the Operator 2 Map to the wind. By activating these, the motion input affects the Operator 1 Map, and the wind input affects the Operator 2 Map. Calculate Op2 Last- Applies operator 2 after everything in SoftFX has been calculated.

Collision Size- Determines how the force of the collision is distributed across the SoftFX object.

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LightWave 9 - Layout Limit Size- Drop down menu- When activated: Max Size -Will limit the size of the deformation by clipping it to the limit size. Resize - Will limit the size of the deformation by shrinking it to the limit size. Limit- Amplitude setting for the Limit. Vector Limit- Constraining the movement to a particular axis, Normal, and object radius. X- Becomes deformed only in the x direction. Y- Becomes deformed only in the y direction. Z- Becomes deformed only in the z direction. X (local)- Becomes deformed only in the local x direction of object. Y (local)- Becomes deformed only in the local y direction of object. Z (local)- Becomes deformed only in the local z direction of object.

Delays- Delays the reaction of the object returning to its original shape. Fix By Event- This function will x points that pass through a collision object that is set to Event mode. Keep Root (keep original size)- object will keep its original size through SoftFX calculations. For example, you start with a 12 ruler. With Keep Root unchecked, this ruler might stretch to 14. If Keep Root is checked it will maintain 12. Follow To- Uses these modes: Path - Deforms the object along its motion path. Wind Deforms the object in the direction of the wind. Gravity deforms the object based on the gravity emitter.

Normal , Follow To Path

Xy- Becomes deformed only in the XY direction. Yz- Becomes deformed only in the YZ direction.

Path Shift- shrinks the root size (original size). Ring- Ring does for a cylinder what Keep Root does for a straight line. You are limited to only 4 rings for calculation but can use Hard link or Meta link to apply it to objects with more then 4 rings. NOTE: A Circle is one Ring. A Cylinder contains 2 Rings.

Zx- Becomes deformed only in the ZX direction. Xy (local)- Becomes deformed only in the local XY direction of object. Yz (local)- Becomes deformed only in the local YZ direction of object. Zx (local)- Becomes deformed only in the local ZX direction of object.

Chapter 20: Dynamics Object radius- Becomes deformed only in the spherical direction, which centers pivot. Normal vector- Becomes deformed only in the normal direction. NV-front- Becomes deformed only in the direction of normal grain side. NV-back- Becomes deformed only in the direction of normal reverse side. Limit Ratio- percentage of the Vector Limit.

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Weightmap The weight value of each point is dened in Modeler when you create a Weight Map. In Layout, you cannot edit Vertex Map values. But the FX button allows you to add a modier, that combined with the original values of the Vertex Map provides a way to adjust values of the selected attribute/function without changing the original Vertex Map value. Pointset A pointset is created in Modeler. In Layout, you cannot add or subtract points from a pointset. But the FX button allows you to add a modier, that combined with the pointset (value of 100%) provides a way to adjust values of the selected attribute/function. Surface Surfaces are created in Modeler. In Layout you cannot add or subtract points from a surface. But the FX button allows you to add a modier, that combined with the surface (value of 100%) provides a way to adjust values of the selected attribute/function. UV UVs are created in Modeler. In Layout you cannot add or subtract points from a UVs. But the FX button allows you to add a modier, that combined with the UVs value provides a way to adjust values of the selected attribute/ function. NOTE: You can always check value information for points in the Point Info windows.

Bump Tab

Compress Bump- Applies bump (bulge) to polys that are under compression (push) and maintains the objects volume. FX Button- Allows you to use a Vertex Map to control the value of an attribute (spring, viscosity, etc) or a function (delay, wave size, compress bump), From the Effects drop down menu the user can select a Vertex Map as well as change the base value. Vertex Map Will be displayed by name and type. Example: LeftArm/Weightmap

Base The base value is 0% by default. Changing the base value changes the effective range. Example: Base=0% (0 100), Base=20% ( 20 100). NOTE: For those interested this is the equation used to calculate the vertex point value. Vp = Vmap * value+ (1- Vmap) *

base.

Negative Bump- Applies negative bump (dented) to polys under tension (pull).

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LightWave 9 - Layout Load Motion- Loads a previously generated motion le. Clear Motion- Clears a loaded Motion le. Save Motion- saves the generated motion to a le, which will be used subsequently to deform the object. Shift Frames- Shifts the starting playback frame of SoftFX data. By default, the number entered is regarded as a number of seconds to shift the motion of the .mdd le. If you prefer to use frames, enter the number of frames followed by the letter f; -400f, for example, to shift so that the motion in the .mdd le starts at frame -400. Playback Mode Normal- Plays back setting all motion to .mdd le Local- Plays back based on the local translations (move rotate and scale) of the object. Allows an .mdd deformation on an object while respecting new motion applied to that object. Copy- Use the Copy button to copy the current settings between dynamic objects. Paste- Use the Paste button to paste the current settings between dynamic objects. Save- Saves all the settings contained in the SoftFX properties. Load- Loads a saved settings le. Similar to using a Preset. View Feedback- Set the feedback in Layout when controlling HardFX. When the display is poor or the display speed is slow, you uncheck this. Numeric Feedback- Set the numerical feedback in Layout when controlling HardFX. When the display is poor or the display speed is slow, you uncheck this. Animation Feedback Info - Clicking the Info button brings up a window that gives you the version # of ClothFX and MDD le information.

Cycle Bump- Generates bump(s) across the Vertex Map selected. The higher the cycle the more bumps generated. Cycle- Number of bumps generated by Cycle Bump. Bump Offset- Allows you to create a bump/negative (bulge//dent) without any compressed polys. NOTE: there must be a compressed bump or negative bump value for Bump Offset to function. Bump Limit- Limits the maximum effect of the bump value(s). Make Wave By- Uses the Vertex Map information to create a rolling wave. Wave Size- Amplitude of the wave created. At a higher value the total height of the wave increases. Loop Cycle- Effects number of waves generated. Loop Speed- Effects how fast the waves move across the object.

File Tab

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EditFX Tab

Edit Size- (Edit Range) This eld changes the inuence range. Edit Falloff- This drop down is located to the left of Edit Size. This will change the Falloff settings to either None, Soft, Linear, or Hard. By default the setting is Soft. None - It has an inuence on all apexes, in other words the whole mesh moves. Linear- Deformation in the range of editSize is attenuated to linear.

Edit Tool- Activates the ability to edit points. You will be able to visually see that youre in Edit Mode in the viewport. All the points that make up the object will become highlighted and all the Edit tool functions will become active. Undo- The Edit tool has its own undo. Click this button to undo the last edit made. You can only undo one edit. Edit Node- Specify the ID number of the point to be edited. If the Edit tool is activated, you can select from the Layout by clicking on the point. Edit Frame- There are 4 modes to edit the Nodes (point) motion path. All- will edit the entire Motion Path. After- will edit the current frame and everything after it. Before - will edit the current Frame and everything before it. Current- will edit only the current Frame. Edit Start/Edit End- Use the Edit Start and Edit End Fix options to lock off frames from being edited. This is the range of frames that the user will be able to edit. All other frames will be xed (locked).

Soft- Deformation is attenuated smoothly in the range of editSize. Hard- Deformation occurs uniformly in the range of editSize, and is not attenuated. Edit Axis- This limits the axis in which the Node (point) can be edited. (All, X, Y, or Z) Edit Map- This option lets you limit the portion of the object that is editable by giving the user the option to edit by Vertex Maps.

Command
Smooth- Referring to the current frame, the movement of the parts that was selected by editNode will be smooth. When editStart and editEnd are not specied, the current position will be copied to all the frames. When editStart and editEnd are specied, it will make the position information smooth from the specied frame to the current frame. Makepath- This command will create a Null object whose path is identical to the motion path of the selected part.

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Hard Body Dynamics

Hard Body Dynamics (also called Rigid Body Dynamics or Geostatic Simulation) are used to set the physical interactions and characteristics of bodies that are solid, or xed in shape. Some examples: Bowling Pins Windowpane breaking Objects exploding into pieces Dominoes Pinball machine HardFX will easily create rigid body characteristics and behavior when applied to a goal object in a scene. You then need to set the Weight, Reection, and Collision settings and calculate. The object that has an impact will rotate and move according to its shape and size. It will automatically calculate the result so that the outcome will be more realistic. You do not have to create individual objects for the pieces that break into parts for calculation. If the points are connected as a continuous surface, or if it is a group, it will be determined as parts. Also, it is possible to create the events as a trigger. One of the big features is the Edit tool which allows you to adjust the path of the objects by simply dragging the mouse, and to move, rotate, and smooth the motion itself. With this addition, you do not have to calculate every time you make some changes. As a result, you can easily create the movement that you wish. HardFX is located in the Dynamics Tab of the Object Properties Panel. Choose Hard from the Add Dynamic drop down list and then click on HardFX in the list to open up the HardFX options.

Basic Tab
You can set the basic settings like air resistance, weight, and size.

Group- you can group Dynamic objects with a user-dened name to prevent unwanted interaction. This also works with ParticleFX controllers. This becomes very handy when you are working on a complex scene and you want certain Wind emitters to only affect certain objects.

Chapter 20: Dynamics <default> Includes all groups. <new group> Creates an individual group and can associate functions within a group. NOTE: You can associate with ParticleFXs functions using group function. If it is in the same group, you can associate settings. Also, just by removing from the group, you can break the association. Piece Mode- Setting for how HardFX will treat the object. 1piece -Make all polygons as one piece. Parts - Make polygons that have common points as one piece. 1piece>parts (collision)-When it starts, it will be in 1 piece mode, but with Collision, it will change to parts mode. 1piece>parts (event)-When it starts, it will be in 1 piece mode, but with a Collision event, it will change to parts mode. The events detection is made by each parts pivot. Adv. Resistance- Changes the calculation of the air resistance to an Advanced Mode. Usually, the value for air resistance is set only in Resistance; however, by turning Adv. Resistance on, it will include the objects XYZ ratio. This helps create realistic physical movement like leaves falling. NOTE: If the value for the resistance is 0 or the ratio of each part is the same, even if you turn on Adv. resistance, you will not get any effect. In the case of a sphere (with same radius), since XYZ ratio are the same, you will not get any effect.

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Size- used to set the size of the object that will be used for collision. The size will be the percentage of each part. Size Effect (weight)- Proportionate to each parts weight to size. By turning it on, you can set weight proportional to the size (scale). Weight- Sets the mass for each part. A higher value will increase the velocity from the items origin, while a lower value slows the velocity. Size Effect (Resistance)- Controls the relationship of each parts resistance to size. By turning it on, you set resistance proportional to size (scale). NOTE: If the value for the resistance is 0 or the ratio of each part is the same, even if you turn on Size Effect (resistance), you will not get any effect. Resistance- This one is not a characteristic of the object or part itself, even though it can be set per object, per group or per part. Resistance controls the amount of resistance of the environmental medium in which the simulation is taking place. For example, this affects how quickly an object or part moves through the virtual air in the scene. The default is 1.0; raising this number increases the resistance to the items movement and lowering to a number between 1.0 and 0.0 decreases the resistance. This allows the simulation of a wide range of gaseous or even liquid media as the environment for the physical simulation. To simulate behavior within a normal atmosphere at sea level, a value of .14 would be appropriate. A value of 1.0 gives the medium a character close to that of molasses. This can be used as a way to differentiate the behavior of differing parts or objects within a given scene. Note: If you are coming to LightWave from Maya, the function that is most similar from that application is Damping.

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LightWave 9 - Layout x axis - Allows rotation only along the X axis. y axis - Allows rotation only along the Y axis. z axis - Allows rotation only along the Z axis. xz axis - Allows rotation only along the X and Z axis. xy axis - Allows rotation only along the X and Y axis. yz axis - Allows rotation only along the Y and Z axis. Impact Effect- Settings for the effect on rotation when there is an impact. Roll- Creates rotation depending on the size and velocity. Force - Creates rotation depending on the impact. This is useful for regular physical movement. None - No effect to the rotation.

Fix
Sets a Fix each parts pivot. Free - Will not x. spring x- Fixes with a spring, causing a back and forth motion. x- Fixes. Spring- When Spring Fix is selected, this represents the power of the Spring, which acts like a rubber band. Spring Length- Setting for length when spring power is 0. Spring length is the length of the spring and with the length of spring offset of the pivot, it moves freely. Depending on the value of spring, spring length will vary. Gravity- Setting for downward (-y) gravity.

Rotation Tab
The Rotation Tab will set the parameters for rotation.

Stop - Stops the rotation. NOTE: If the Impact effect mode is roll, you cannot assign Y axis rotation to the Axis. Roll refers only to X and Z rotation. Wind Effect- Setting for rotation from the effect of Wind. None - Does not effect the rotation. Accelerate - Strengthens the current rotation. Roll- Creates perpendicular rotation to wind and moving direction. Spin - The object will rotate around the axis that it is moving along.. Size Effect (torque)- Makes a ratio to each parts torque to size. By turning it on, you can set torque proportional to the size.

Axis- Restricts rotation along the specied axis. Free - Not restricted

Chapter 20: Dynamics Torque Min- Sets the minimum value for force for the rotational direction. By combining it with torque Max and giving a different torque to each part, you obtain a different rotation for each part. Torque Max- Sets the maximum value for force for the rotational direction. By combining it with torque Min and giving a different torque to each part, you obtain a different rotation for each part. Shift- Sets the direction of the pivot shift. Random - Moves the pivot point in a random direction. x shift- Moves the pivot point in the X direction. y shift- Moves the pivot point in the Y direction. z shift- Moves the pivot point in the Z direction. object pivot- Sets the parts pivot as the objects pivot. Pivot Shift- Moves the pivot of the rotation towards the direction set in shift. The amount is the percentage of the parts size. Collide- Restricts the movement of Resist (spin). Free - Resist (spin) will always be on. Collide - Resist (spin) will turn on only when a collision occurs. Collide (axis)- Resist (spin) will turn on only when collision occurs and the axis is perpendicular to the collision surface. Resist (spin)- Applies resistance to the rotational direction. This is useful when speed decreases by friction. Swing- Fixes each parts position. Useful when you want to create a jiggly movement. Free - Will not x the position. Swing - Turns on swing for xing the position.

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Swing (wind)- Turns on swing and also adds wind to the jiggle. When you have roll or spin selected in wind effect, the effect of the wind will be invalidated. Spring- Sets the restoring force when swing is on. NOTE: The value for spring power is for each rotational direction.

Switch By- Changes the setting by the specied trigger. Changed group - When the group is changed in Collision, settings will change. Event- When an event is given by Collision, settings will change. New Impact Effect- Changes the mode of impact effect when the trigger set in switch by is given. NOTE: Supplement: By default, HardFX sets the axis of the calculated parts to the objects pivot, unless it is changed by Shift or Pivot Shift. Set shift to Object Pivot to make the objects pivot point the center of the axis,.

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LightWave 9 - Layout Collision Node- When Collision By is set to Node, you can select the vertex of collision detection by using Vertex Maps. Stop By Event- With Collision:Event, the movement will stop. It will move again with startByCollision or RestartByCollision. Event is determined by each parts pivot. Start By Collision Start By Collision-Usually, an animation starts from the start of the calculation, but when you select StartByCollision, the animation is made after the collision is determined. Restart By Collision- The animation is made after the collision is determined. The difference with StartByCollision is that even if there is no collision, the animation is still created. NOTE: StartByCollision is valid only with Collision. It will not work with two HardFX.

Collision Tab
Settings for collision.

Exclusive Collision- Selecting an item from this list will exclude all other collision objects from the calculation. Collision By- Sets the detection method for collision. Node - Detects the objects vertex. Box- Detects with a box vertex including the object. Sphere - Detects the sphere set, in size, in Basic Tab.

Break Distance- Sets the condition for Start By Collisions collision factor. The calculation will not start if the distance is shorter than the specied distance. Self Interaction- Sets the interaction within the same object. None - No calculations made for interaction. Sphere - Detects the sphere set, in size, in Basic Tab. Box- Detects with a box vertex including the object.

From let to right: node, box, and sphere

Interaction- Sets the interaction between objects. None - No calculations made for interaction.

Chapter 20: Dynamics Sphere - Detects the sphere set, in size, in Basic Tab. Box- Detects with a box vertex including the object. Bounce- Sets the power of the interaction. When the relative speed is kept at 100% after collision, the energy of the collision is not lost.

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Local Axis- When activated, specication for Velocity(m/s) is set to the objects local axis. Velocity(m/s)- Sets the velocity of the force along the specied axis. Rotation (c/s)- Sets the rotational power by rotational speed (cycles/sec).

Force Tab
Applies settings for amount and behavior for the types of force that will be applied.

File Tab
Manages copy, paste, and HardFXs motion data.

Force Mode- Sets the type of force that will occur. Start- Force will occur at the beginning or when started by StartByCollision. break(1piece>parts)- In Piece mode, when you select 1piece>parts, force will occur when it starts to break. Event- Force will occur from FX_Collisions event mode. The detection will be each parts pivot. Initial Axis- Set the axis of the rotational power. Random- Sets the axis to a random direction. x- Sets axis to X direction. y- Sets axis to Y direction. z- Sets axis to Z direction. Load Motion- Loads a previously generated motion le. Clear Motion- Clears a loaded Motion le. Save Motion- Saves the generated motion to a le, which will be used subsequently to deform the object. Playback Speed- This will set the percentage of the playback speed of HardFX data about to be played. Shift Frames- Shifts the playback starting frame of HardFX data. By default, the number entered is regarded as a number of seconds to shift the motion of the .mdd le. If you prefer to use frames, enter the number of frames followed by the letter f; -400f, for example, to shift so that the motion in the .mdd le starts at frame -400. Local- Plays back based on the local translations (move,

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LightWave 9 - Layout Edit Tool- Activates the ability to edit Nodes. To edit, you will have to calculate HardFX, or load HardFX data. Undo- The Edit tool has its own undo. Click this button to undo the last edit. You can only undo one edit. Edit Node- Specify the number of the parts to be edited. If the Edit tool is activated, you can select from the Layout by clicking the parts. Lock- Displays whether the parts specied by editNode are in Lock state or not. When parameters like size is changed by Value, it will be in Lock state. In this state, even if the size parameter is changed from the original, the Locked parameter will not change. To activate the size parameter, uncheck the Lock. Edit Frame- Specify the frame(s) to be edited. All- All frames will be editable. After- Can edit frames before the count. Before - Can edit after the count. Current- Can edit only the current frame. Edit Axis- Specify the direction to edit. move(xyz)- Move the selected parts. move(x)- Move the selected parts to X direction. move(y)- Move the selected parts to Y direction. move(z)- Move the selected parts to Z direction. rotation(x)- Rotate the selected parts to X axis. rotation(y)- Rotate the selected parts to Y axis. rotation(z)- Rotate the selected parts to Z axis.

rotate and scale) of the object. Allows an .mdd deformation on an object while respecting new motion applied to that object. Copy- Copies the current settings between dynamic objects. Paste- Pastes the current settings between dynamic objects Save- Saves all the settings contained in the HardFX properties. Load- Loads a saved settings le. Similar to using a Preset. Resolution- Sets the accuracy of calculation by how big the maximum error is. When it approaches 0 the accuracy increases and errors will decrease, but the amount of calculation will also increase, resulting in longer processing times. View Feedback- Sets the feedback in Layout when controlling HardFX. When the display is poor or the display speed is slow, uncheck this. Numeric Feedback- Sets the numerical feedback in Layout when controlling HardFX. When the display is poor or the display speed is slow, uncheck this.

EditFX Tab

Chapter 20: Dynamics bend(x)- Rotate to X axis by making the center as the location data and rotation data from the selected parts. bend(y)- Rotate to Y axis by making the center as the location data and rotation data from the selected parts. bend(z)- Rotate to Z axis by making the center as the location data and rotation data from the selected parts. Fix Edit Start- Activates EditStart. When activated, the current frame value is inputted in EditStart. When this is not specied, all the frames before the current frame will be edited. When you specify x, you can get a smooth edit effect with EditStarts frame, but when you press Ctrl key while dragging, you will get a linear edit effect. Edit Start- Fixes the specied frame value and you can get a smooth edit effect between the current frames. Fix Edit End- Activates EditEnd. When activated, current frame value is entered in EditEnd. When this is not specied, all the frames after the current frame will be edited. When you specify x, you can get a smooth edit effect with EditEnds frame, but when you press Ctrl key while dragging, you will get a linear edit effect. Edit End- It will x the specied frame value and you can get a smooth edit effect between the current frames. Value Type- Select the parts data to edit using value. Size - Changes the size parameter for the parts selected in editNode. Weight- Changes the weight parameter for the parts selected in editNode. Resistance - Changes the resistance parameter for the parts selected in editNode. Torque - Changes the torque parameter for the parts selected in editNode.

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pivot(x)- Changes the pivots X axis for the parts selected in editNode. pivot(y)- Changes the pivots Y axis for the parts selected in editNode. pivot(z)- Changes the pivots Z axis for the parts selected in editNode. Value- Sets the value for selected item in Value type. When edited, Lock will be checked. In this state, even if the original parameter is changed, the Locked parameter will not change. To activate the size parameter, uncheck the Lock. Selected Update- When activated, you can re-calculate only the parts selected by editNode. To re-calculate, activate Calculate with SelectUpdate checked. You do not have to re-calculate when you move the path or key frame data with editAxis

Command
Smooth- Referencing the current frame, the movement of the parts that was selected by editNode will be smooth. When editStart and editEnd are not specied, the current position will be copied to all the frames. When editStart and editEnd are specied, it will make the position information smooth from the specied frame to the current frame. Make Path- This command will create a Null object whose path is identical to the motion path of the selected part.

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ParticleFX (Emitter)
With LightWaves integrated particle system, ParticleFX, you can create scintillating effects like sparks, explosions, liquids, smoke, and much more. Because the system is integrated, there is no need for a secondary viewing interface or duplication of existing items like cameras. Everything is handled within the normal Layout interface, reducing the learning curve tremendously.

ParticleFX features several basic controllers: Emitters, Wind, Collision, and Gravity. You can add one or more of these controllers to your scene. Then, each can be set with its own parameter settings to create just the effect you are looking for.

Adding a Particle Emitter

If you wish to add a new Particle Emitter to your scene, choose Items > Dynamic Object>Particle. You can also add a particle emitter by choosing Emitter from the Add Dynamic drop down menu on the Dynamic Tab in the Object Properties Panel.

The main difference between adding an emitter from the Dynamic Objects drop down menu is that you have the option of creating a Partigon Emitter by choosing it from the Emitter Type drop down menu.

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You can achieve many effects, like reworks and sparks, by using PolygonEmitters alone (i.e., without HyperVoxels). You can save signicant rendering time compared to HVEmitters, which require HyperVoxels for rendering. NOTE: PolygonEmitters can use HyperVoxels just like an HVEmitter can. As such, you may want to use PolygonEmitters exclusively to avoid confusion. If you do not wish to see the particles (e.g., when HyperVoxels are transparent), just deactivate the object on the Scene Editor. This will not affect the rendering of the Hypervoxels.

Partigons
Partigons are a special object type for particles. Partigons provide a means for particle systems (like ParticleFX) to automatically generate single-point polygons as needed. You can apply surface attributes to single-point polygons and, thus, make them visible when they render. NOTE: Use the Particle2Partigon (Utilities >Additional>Particle2Partigon) function to convert a Particle Emitter into a Partigon

Using an Object as an Emitter

You can use a LightWave object as an emitter by adding Emitter from the Add Dynamic drop down menu on the Dynamic Tab in the Object Properties Panel. You must also use one of the objectNozzle settings discussed below under Emitter Controller. NOTE: The custom object bounding box will continue to appear.

Emitter.

Emitter Types
There are two emitter types: HVEmitter and PolygonEmitter. Either type automatically uses the FX_ Emitter custom object plug-in to create the particles. The difference between the two selections is the type of object that each uses in Layout, which affects how they render. HVEmitters use null objects that are invisible by themselves. To render particles from HVEmitters, you must add the HyperVoxels volumetric plug-in on the Volumetrics Tab of the Effects Panel. Then, on the HyperVoxels Panel, activate the HVEmitter object. If you use gradients with HyperVoxels parameters, special particle-related Input Parameters will be available. PolygonEmitters, on the other hand, use partigon objects special objects designed specically for use by particle systems. Essentially, they generate single-point polygons on the y. Single-point polygons have a surface and you can use normal surfacing techniques. The surface will even be visible in shaded OpenGL viewports.

Generator Tab
On the Generator Tab, you set parameters relating to the creation of the particles.

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LightWave 9 - Layout When Generate by is set to speed, it creates the particles based on the speed of the emitter, caused by moving it. You need to keyframe some movement for the emitter to use this setting. The faster the movement, the faster the particles are created. The effect is similar to salt coming out of a saltshakerthe harder you shake it, the more salt comes out. When Generate by is set to collision event, the particles are created when a collision event occurs. You need to use a collision controller whose Mode is set to event. When Generate by is set to wind, particles are created if the wind speed exceeds the threshold1 setting (Motion Tab). (Threshold2 has no impact here.) The force of the wind has no effect on the birth rate. The windspeed setting is similar, but the birth rate is affected by the wind force. The greater the wind force, the greater the number of particles born. The Nozzle setting determines the shape of the emitting source. With box, particles are emitted from inside a box. With sphere, particles are emitted from inside a sphere. With cone, particles are emitted from inside a cone. You can use geometry as an emitter, by adding the FX_Emitter custom object to any loaded object. This will allow you to use the Object-vertices, Object-normal, Object-surface, and Object-line nozzle types. When you use these nozzles, you can offset the center position by changing the Center Position values on the Etc. Tab.

Group
When you work with multiple controllers, you may want to isolate specic groups. That is, perhaps you want Emitter (1) affected by Wind (1), but you want Emitter (2) to be affected only by Wind (2). This is easily accomplished by using groups. The <default> group is a special global group that disregards independent groupings. Thus, if an emitter is set to a dened group (e.g., new_group), a wind controller set to <default> will still affect it. <default> Includes all groups. <new group> Creates an individual group. Can associate functions within a group. Once you add a new group, it appears in the Group popup menu, where you can select it, as desired, to associate groups of controllers. NOTE: The Group feature works in conjunction with the Other Dynamic tools! Thus, if you add an emitter, a wind controller, and a soft body (Dynamic Object) element to the same group, they are all affected by the wind!

NOTE: You can use the Group feature to disable a controller by simply setting it to a group not associated with an emitter. The Birth rate works in conjunction with the Generate by setting. Essentially, it determines how many particles are born per the Generate by setting. The texture T option generates particles where the texture exists. Generate by has several possible settings. With the frame and sec options, every new frame or second, the number of particles set as the Birth rate are created.

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The child objects must have the FX_Link motion modier added. This allows you to use particle collision detection to move (e.g., break up) a group of objects. HINT: Usually, you use the object modes in conjunction with an Explosion value (Motion Tab). The Size effect setting determines how keyframing a Size change for the emitter affects the particles. The Key effect option causes particles to be created when a keyframe is encountered. The key setting differs from key-env, in that key-env creates them in a smoothed nonlinear fashion. Set to none to turn this option off. The XYZ Generator size elds set the default size of the emitter. Particle limit sets an overall limit for the number of particles that are emitted. The Start frame eld is normally an informational eld that indicates the frame the particles will start being born. By default, this is the rst frame setting in Layout. You can manually change this starting frame by checking the Fixed option and entering the desired frame in the Start frame eld.

When you use the parent-emitter, parent-emitter(end), parent-collision, and child-pivots nozzle types, they use one controllers relationship to another in order to create multiple or cascading effects. To use parent-emitter, you need to create two emitters and parent one to the other. Then, set the childs Nozzle to parent-emitter. The parents particles will spawn particles, essentially becoming emitters themselves. Parent- emitter(end) is similar, but emits the particles after the parents particles dieperfect for exploding reworks. Parent-collision doesnt emit the particles until the parent particle has a collision. (Make sure you click Start to compute the motion.) Child-pivots aligns the emitters particles with the pivot point of child objects (i.e., objects parented to the emitter).

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LightWave 9 - Layout Once a particle is born, it lasts only this long. If you activate Fixed Random, random calculations are constant, so they yield more predictable results. By activating the Show Id option, each particle will display a number in the Layout viewport indicating the index number of the particle. The Show Size option draws a wireframe sphere around each particle representing the particles current size.

Particle Tab
On the Particle Tab, you set parameters that describe the created particles.

Motion Tab
On the Motion Tab, you set how the particles are placed into motion.

Particle weight sets an arbitrary weighting value that will inuence how properties like gravity affect the particles. The plus(+) and minus(-) elds randomize the preceding eld by adding or subtracting a value between 0 and the number entered. So if Particle weight was 1 and its randomize value was .1, the Particle weights would range from .9 to 1.1. A total particle value of zero or less will be zero. Particle size affects the outer boundary used for collision detection. It can also be used by volumetric plug-ins like HyperVoxels. Particle resistance adds an air resistance effect. Particles will move slower as you increase this value. Life time (frame) sets the life of the particles in frames. Use the Velocity setting to scale the overall speed of the particles. A setting of 100% is normal. Lower values will slow down your particles and higher values will speed them up. The XYZ Vector settings determine the initial direction and speed of the particle motion. Other factors, like gravity, wind, and so on, will impact the actual result, however. You may override the Vector settings and point the particles to

Chapter 20: Dynamics an object in the scene by selecting it in the Target pop-up menu. If you want the Vector settings to relate to World coordinates instead of the emitters local coordinates, activate the World coordinates option. The Explosion setting makes the particles move out from the center of the nozzle with an initial velocity equal to the value that you set. Vibration(m/s) randomizes the initial trajectory of each particle. You can achieve a fountain-like effect by reducing the size of your nozzle (e.g., XYZ=.1), adding some vector speed and increasing the Vibration value. Vibration(min) sets a minimum vibration amount. The threshold1 and threshold2 values set up a vibration effect range. If a particles initial speed is under the threshold1 value, no vibration will occur. If it exceeds the threshold2 value, the vibration is applied. The vibration is phased in for speeds between threshold1 and threshold2. Use this for effects like water coming from a garden hose, where the water tends to fan out as more water comes out. Threshold1 is also used when particles are generated by wind. When the wind speed exceeds the threshold1 value, particles are generated.

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In most cases, if you want gravity, you set the Gravity Y value to something like -1. However, you can set up inverse gravity by using positive values, and you can apply gravity on other axes. The Center Position XYZ values set the center for particle effects like Explosion (Motion Tab). Sometimes you may not want the particles exploding from the center of the emitter. The Position blur value randomizes the initial particle position by using velocity. If you set this option to 0%, the particles are created side by side. Use the Parent motion setting to control how much of the emitters motion is applied to the particles. If it is set to 0, the particles are emitted the same no matter how the emitter may be moving. Setting the Max Speed (m/s) eld regulates the top speed of the particle. The Loop Frame setting is used to repeat the particle generation and motion in the set number of frames. For example, if you enter a Loop Frame value of 30 frames, in a two second animation two particles will be generated with the same birth location and motion.

Etc Tab
On the Etc Tab, you set miscellaneous parameters for the emitter.

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Rotation Tab
The settings on this tab affect the rotation properties of each particle.

Interaction Tab
The settings on this tab affect the way particles from both the same and other emitters of the group interact with each other.

Rotation Menu:
None-No rotation will be calculated for the particles. Align to Path-The particle will align to the rotation of the path it is travelling along Random Rotation&Scale-Will align, spin, and scale the particle randomly as it travels along the path

The Self Interaction drop-list determines how particles react to other particles of the same emitter. The Interaction drop-list determines how particles react to other particles from different emitters (within the same group). Options include having colliding particles push emitters, bounce off, drag, and crowd around each other. The Force setting adjusts the strength of the interaction effect. Adjust the Viscosity setting to change the amount of resistance which particles receive when they interact with each other. This setting is useful when creating different types of liquid effects. Turning on and off the interaction effects is done by activating and deactivating the Interaction Detect option.

File Tab
The File Tab contains options for handling the clipboard and le commands.

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The playback mode works with the motion and determines how it will playback. The Normal mode indicates that it will playback normally, starting at frame zero. With Key the motion will be started every time a keyframe is encountered for the emitter. Parent-Key is similar, but uses the parent items keyframes. Parent Particles and Parent Particles (end) work like the identically named Nozzle options. Of course, the particles come from the motion le instead of Emitter settings. Make sure that the parents Particle size is set greater than 0. Parent Recoded CP uses the Recode CP option on the Collision controller, which must be the parent of the emitter. Playback will occur when collisions are detected. Use this for effects like splashes in water from rain drops, where one emitter provides the rain and another emitter (with this option set) creates the splashes from the detected collisions with a ground plane. The Copy and Paste clipboard buttons allow you to copy the settings of a controller and apply them to another. Use the Save and Load buttons to add custom saved ParticleFX controllers to your scene.

You can save the particle motion of an emitter using the Save Motion button. The motion will take into account wind, gravity, and other options. It effectively freezes the particle motion; the particles will move just as they did when the motion was saved. Changing the Emitter settings, clearing/ adding wind and gravity controllers, and so on, will have no impact. Save motion is a great time-saver for network- rendered scenes or scenes that require heavy calculations for collisions. Once youve saved the motion, it doesnt need to be calculated again. To use this feature, rst, get your particles moving the way you want. Then, make sure your scene plays back without any pausesthis means that ParticleFX has nished its calculations. Now, you can click the Save Motion button to save out the .pfx le. (If you look at the emitters Object Properties Panel, youll see the .pfx le referenced in the FX emitter custom object entry.) Now save the scene and youre done. Remember, you can even clear wind, collision, and gravity controllers without affecting particle motion. Hint: You can save time by advancing to the last frame, letting the frame refresh, then saving the PFX le. When this feature is active, the Save Motion button will be ghosted. To clear a loaded motion, click clear motion. You can also load the motion le into another emitter using load motion.

EditFX Tab
The EditFX Tab contains options for real-time editing of your Particles.

Edit Tool- Activates the ability to edit each individual particle (Node).

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LightWave 9 - Layout Fix Edit End- Activate editEnd. When activated, current frame value is inputted in editEnd. When this is not specied, all the frames after the current frame will be edited. When you specify x, you can get a smooth edit effect with editEnds frame, but when you press Ctrl key when dragging, you will get a linear edit effect. Edit End- It will x the specied frame value and you can get a smooth edit effect between the current frames. Edit Size- (Edit Range) This eld changes the inuence range. Command Smooth-Referencing the current frame, the movement of the particle that was selected by editNode will be smooth. When editStart and editEnd are not specied, the current position will be copied to all the frames. When editStart and editEnd are specied, it will make the position information smooth from the specied frame to the current frame. Make Path- This command will create a Null object whose path is identical to the motion path of the selected particle. Delete - You can delete individual particles from the Emitter.

Undo - The Edit tool has its own undo. Click this button to undo the last edit. You can only undo one edit. Edit Node- Specify the number of particles to be edited. If the Edit tool is activated, you can select from the Layout by clicking the parts. Edit Frame - Specify the frame(s) to be edited. All- All frames will be editable. After- Can edit frames before the count. Before - Can edit after the count. Current- Can edit only the current frame. Edit Axis- Specify the direction to edit. move(xyz)- Move the selected parts in any direction. move(x)- Move the selected parts along the X direction. move(y)- Move the selected parts along the Y direction. move(z)- Move the selected parts along the Z direction. rotation(x)- Rotate the selected parts along the X axis. rotation(y)- Rotate the selected parts along the Y axis. rotation(z)- Rotate the selected parts along the Z axis. rotation(View Axis)- Rotate the selected parts. Fix Edit Start- Activate editStart. When activated, current frame value is inputted in editStart. When this is not specied, all the frames before the current frame will be edited. When you specify x, you can get a smooth edit effect with editStarts frame, but when you press Ctrl key when dragging, you will get a linear edit effect. Edit Start- It will x the specied frame value and you can get a smooth edit effect between the current frames.

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Dynamics: Collision Controller

The Collision controller lets you add an element for the particles to bump into.

handy when you are working on a complex scene and you want certain Collision objects to only affect certain objects. <default> Includes all groups. <new group> Creates individual group. It can associate functions within a group. NOTE: You can associate with ParticleFXs functions using group function. If it is in the same group, you can associate settings. Also, if you do not want to associate, you can disregard the association by removing from the group. The Type setting controls the shape of the collision object. The Sphere, Box, and Plane options can be used for basic primitive collision shapes. The object, object-subdiv, and object-advanced settings are used when you use a LightWave object for collisions. Use the Innite setting for an innite-sized collision area. This is particularly useful with the Scatter and Attract modes. (Note that the Bound and Stick modes will continue to respect the Radius/Level setting.) Use the Recode CP option to set up an event-like trigger to be read by a child emitters Playback Mode. As particles cross the collision plane created by the collision item, this event triggers the playback of a saved motion. The InSide option causes the collision to occur inside the collision object.

Collision controllers (FX Gravity) can be added in the Dynamics Tab of the Object Properties Panel or on the Items Tab in the Dynamic Objects drop down menu.

Mode Tab

Child Mesh will apply the current collision settings to a child object mesh, if one exists.

Group- you can group Dynamic objects with a user-dened name to prevent unwanted interaction. This becomes very

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Bounce

The Noshift option disables any offset the particles may generate in the collision process. This ensures that the particles will collide directly on the collision surface. By activating the Change option, particles passing through the collision item can switch to a different group, to be affected by a different controller. The New Group denes which group the particles will switch to. The Mode setting determines what happens when a collision occurs. The Bounce option causes the collision to change the direction and velocity of the particles. With Stick, the particles simply adhere to the surface. Erase kills the particle upon contact. The event mode is used when the emitter has its Generate by option set to collision event: it creates particles at the time of collision. In Scatter mode, the collisions occur within the interior of the collision object and not at its surface. This causes the particles to scatter. The Attract mode causes the particles to be attracted to the center of the collision object.

Stick

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Left: Radius = 3m, Right: Radius = 0m

Attract

The Bounce/Bind power setting controls how particles bounce off the surface, when Mode is set to Bounce. The Stick mode controls the amount of attachment the particles have.

The Radius/Level setting sets the size of the collision object based on this radius. If Type is set to Plane, this setting controls the level of the plane. If you are using a LightWave object, this setting controls the distance from the surface where the collision occurs.

Left: Bounce Mode, Bounce/Bind: 50% Right: Bounce Mode, Bounce/Bind: 400%

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Left: Stick Mode, Bounce/Bind: 10% Right: Stick Mode, Bounce/Bind: 90%

Left: Fix: 0; Right: Fix: 1.0

Friction power adds friction to the collision surface when you use the Stick mode, which slows the momentum of particles sliding over the surface.

Increasing the Roughness setting roughens up the collision surface. Roughness changes particle motion after collisions, but it also depends on the Mode setting.

Friction: 0 Friction: 20

Roughness: 0 Roughness: 200

Fix power causes the particles to stick to the surface and not slide around.

If you reduce the Probability setting below 100%, you reduce the chance of a particle being treated as having collided with the collision object.

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Dynamics: Gravity Controller

A Gravity controller may be added to your scene to produce gravity-like effects on your particles and dynamic objects.

Probability: 100%

Probability: 10%

Etc Tab
On the Etc. Tab, you can Copy, Paste, Load, and Save settings for the Collision controller.

Gravity controllers (FX Gravity) can be added in the Dynamics Tab of the Object Properties Panel or on the Items Tab in the Dynamic Objects drop down menu.

Using an Object for Collisions

You can use a LightWave object as a Collision object by adding Collision from the Add Dynamic drop down menu in the Object Properties Panel, Dynamic Tab. You must set the Type to object on the objects Collision Controller Panel. If you use a SubPatch object, you set the Type to object-subdiv to use the subdivided mesh instead of the base polygonal object. Use the object-advanced type to get even more accurate collision detection.

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LightWave 9 - Layout Use the Copy, Paste, Load and Save options to re-use Gravity settings. NOTE: Cloth and Hard dynamics have Gravity settings as well.

Size effect determines how scaling the Gravity controller in Layout affects the gravity. The Gravity option scales the gravity effect. Region scales the overall size of the effect area. The Direction Gravity mode applies the gravity in a single direction using the Gravity XYZ values. The Point mode causes the center of the Gravity controller to attract/repel the particles. Negative values attract and positive values repel.

Dynamics: Wind Controller

The Wind controller lets you add wind to blow your particles and dynamic objects around. The Wind controller appears in a Layout viewport as a cloud of wind indicatorsa bunch of short lines with pivot point dots at one end. The length of the lines indicates the force of the wind: the longer the line, the more powerful the wind. The angle of the line indicates the direction of the wind at the lines location.

Point Mode

The 2Pole Gravity mode creates two attraction points, one meter on either side of the center. It can create magnetic or electric eld effects. The Falloff Mode setting determines how the gravitys effect tapers off at its region borders. Linear means the effect is linear throughout the controllers region. The Inverse Distance setting uses a one divided by the radius of the controller region to taper off the gravitys power from the center of the region. Off means no falloff. With this setting, the particles do not need to be within a controller region to be affected. The Radius setting sets the radius of the controller region. The Power setting scales the overall force of the gravity. The Gravity XYZ settings determine the direction and force of your gravity when Gravity Mode is set to Direction. Normally, youll want to set Y to something like -1.

Wind controllers (FX Wind) can be added in the Dynamics Tab of the Object Properties Panel or on the Items Tab in the Dynamic Objects drop down menu.

Mode Tab
On the Mode Tab, you set the basic characteristics of the Wind controller.

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The Wind mode setting determines the type of wind and how it changes over time. You can get a feel for what the setting does by looking at the wind indicators. There are a few special indicators, however. If you select Turbulence, you can set the size of the effect and direction using the Turbulence settings on the Vector Tab. If you select Direction as the Wind mode, you can use a Texture Map (Texture button on Vector Tab) to control the wind power and turbulence. Animate the texture to animate the wind. If you select rotation(y) or doughnut, use the Spiral setting at the bottom of the panel to adjust the intensity of the rotation.

doughnut

Animation Path is a bit different. It uses handles which can be used to control the path of the wind effect. The path can be controlled by the position and rotation of the handle.

Hint: One way to add extra handles is to add a null and parent it to the wind controller. Or, you can clone one of the other handles.

rotation (y)

The Blend mode sets how the wind blends with other overlapping winds. Add is additive. Max means the highest wind controls. With overwrite; the wind is replaced with itself. Heavy-wind disregards particle weight.

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LightWave 9 - Layout The Wind XYZ settings determine the basic direction and force of your wind. If you are using the Direction, Rotation, CylinderExplosion, or Hemisphere Wind mode, use the Envelope E button to animate the wind direction and force. To remove the envelope, Shift+ Click the E button. If you are using the Direction Wind mode, use the Texture T button to add a 3D texture that affects wind direction and force. Note that the texture is added to the base Wind XYZ settings. To remove the texture, Shift + click the T button. NOTE: Textures are three-dimensional. Thus, adding a texture adds it to all channels. Also, for envelopes, make sure you have the correct channel in the channel bin. If you are using the Turbulence Wind mode, the Turbulence Vector sets the direction and power of wind turbulence. Turbulence size sets the wavelength of the turbulence.

If winds have different Blend mode settings, obviously only one can control the blend. The priority order from highest to lowest is: overwrite, max, add, and heavywind. So, if Wind1 is set to add and Wind2 is set to max, the overlapping area will use max blend because it has the highest priority. The Size effect setting determines how scaling the Wind controller in Layout affects the wind. Setting it to Wind scales the wind power. Setting it to Region scales the overall size of the effect area. The Falloff mode setting determines how the winds effect tapers off at its region borders, if at all. Linear means the wind is the same throughout its borders. The Inverse Distance setting tapers off the winds power from its center. The Distance setting makes the wind falloff towards its center. OFF means no falloff. With this setting, the particles do not need to be within a controller region to be affected. The Radius setting sets the radius of the controller region. Use the Power setting to scale the overall force of the wind. The Spiral Amount setting is used for the rotation(y) or doughnut Wind modes. The Spiral Thickness setting controls the thickness of the doughnut wind.

Etc. Tab
On the Etc. Tab, you can Copy, Paste, Load, and Save settings for the wind controller.

Vector Tab
On the Vector Tab, you set the direction and force characteristics of the wind controller. The vectors are scaled per second.

Additional Dynamics Utilities

FX Browser
The FX Browser Panel may be used to add various dynamics controllers. From here, you can also open the property panels for the controllers that you add. To open this panel, choose Utilities > Additional> FX_Browser.

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Emitter, FX_Wind, etc.). Just check out the Dynamics Tab of the Object Properties Panel.

Deleting an FX controller
Select and clear, just as you would any other Layout item (Items > Clear Selected Item).

HINT: Keep this non-modal panel out while you use any of the FX tools; it will save you a lot of time adding controllers and changing properties.

To open a controllers property panel:

Choose the controller from the Item pop-up menu and click the Property button to open the Properties Panel for the selected controller.

Adding an FX controller
From the Add pop-up menu, choose the controller you wish to add, load, or apply.

NOTE : You can also display the Property Panel for the currently selected controller by choosing Utilities > FX_Property or by accessing the Dynamics Tab in the Object Properties Panel.

The Start Button

NOTE : FX controllers can also be applied to an item in the Dynamics Tab of the Object Properties Panel. Some effects require a pre-calculation before they can be previewed in your animations. These are instances where you have particles interacting or have post-deformed geometry. By activating the Start button, the FX will begin solving any simulations that are currently setup in the scene. The progress of the simulation is displayed in an output pane that opens at the bottom of the FX Browser when the Start button is activated. A shortcut to this is on Layouts toolbar at Modify > IKB Calculate.

NOTE : When you add a controller from the FX Browser that is not one of the Apply options, a null object is added to the scene. Then, an FX custom object plug-in is added (e.g., FX_

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The Background Job option activates multithreading. The update by Background Job option will update Layout when background tasks are complete. In most cases, you should leave these options in their default state of off.
Figure xx: Dynamics Window during calculation

NOTE : Many scenes dont need this step, but clicking Start wont do any harm if you are unsure.

The Resolution setting adjusts the parameter used when performing the physics simulations. The smaller the Resolution setting is, the more accurate the simulation will be. However, this also has a direct effect on the rendering times. In this dialog you can also set the FX Directory. This is the default directory used when saving Controller settings.

The Save Button

Clicking the Save button saves all controller motions, using individual les, to your FX directory (dened on the Option dialog). These can be loaded using the Load Motion option on the Controllers Properties Panel.

Real-time Display
Just click the Play button in Layout and as you tweak the various controller parameters, you get real-time updates of how your changes affect the particles. NOTE : Scenes with particles interacting or with post-deformed geometry require you to click the Start button rst to pre-compute some motions. Clicking Start wont do any harm if you are unsure. You can control how FX Controllers are updated using the UpdateMode pop-up menu.

Options Dialog
The Options dialog has some options that affect the manner in which LightWave computes controllers.

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NOTE : You can associate with particle FXs functions using group function. If it is in the same group, you can associate settings. Also, if you do not want to associate, just by removing from the group, you can disregard the association.

Auto updates all emitters as parameters are modied. Use this for fast systems or in low-particle count simulations. If you have multiple emitters and are using the Select update, then only the emitter showing in the Select pop-up menu, if any, will be updated. Adaptive dynamically scales the number of visible particles based on your CPU performance. This setting attempts to keep interactive performance at a useful level. User turns off particle updating completely. You may force an update by either clicking the Start button on the Particle FX Browser, or the Update button on the File Tab of the Emitter Controller Panel. This setting is useful in situations with heavy particle counts.

NOTE : For more information about FX Controllers see the Particles and Dynamics sections.

FX Linker
WARNING : Using FX Linker is a one-way shot. You cant undo what it does after you click OK. Therefore, you should denitely save your scene before running this modier. FX Linker (Utilities> Additional> FX Linker) automates FX_Link setup on multiple particles. It basically clones the specied object and adds the FX_Linkmotion modier using the settings you specify. This is a great tool for creating a ock of bats, or for creating a quick crowd simulation.

Groups
You can group Dynamic objects with a user-dened name to prevent unwanted interaction. This also works with Particle FX controllers. This becomes very handy when you are working on a complex scene and you want certain Wind emitters to only affect certain objects. <All Group> Includes all groups. <default> Includes all items in scene. <new group> Create individual group. Can associate functions within a group.

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LightWave 9 - Layout another. In most cases the dynamic object contains very few polygons (2 point polygons) while the HardLink object has a higher polygon count. In the example below, Cloth Dynamics is applied to a 2point polygon chain made up of (x4) 2-point polygons. It is the parent of a single layered object that is made up of 4 monkeys. When you use FX_Hardlink, the monkeys take on the motion of the 2- point polygon chain. Hardlink keeps the geometry rigid and will displace it based on the Piece Mode setting.

To use FX Linker:
1 - Save your scene! 2 - Load the target object. 3 - If you plan to use the Size effect option, keyframe the size on this object. Also, make sure your particles have some amount of size (Emitter properties). 4 - Choose Utilities> Additional> FX Linker and set the copy eld to the number of instances you want to create. 5 - The Random, Time Shift, Pre/Post Behavior, Distance/Sec, Size effect, and Make key options correspond to the same options on FX Link, see above. Check them if you want those options set. 6 - If you are using Random or Size effect, you may set maximum and minimum values in the provided elds. 7 - Click OK. Depending on how many copies you make, it may take a while before FX Linker nishes. WARNING : Using FX_Linker is a one-way shot. You cant undo what it does after you click OK. Therefore, you should denitely save your scene before running this modier, or better, press shift + s to save a scene increment.

NOTE: The HardLink Object must be parented to the Dynamic object in order for FX_Hardlink to work.

FX Property
You can display the Property Panel for the currently selected FX controller by choosing Utilities > Plug-ins: Additional > FX_Property . NOTE: You can also access the Controllers Property Panel by using the Dynamics Tab in the Object Properties Panel.

FX_Hardlink Properties

FX_Hardlink
FX_Hardlink is a very powerful tool that allows you to use the dynamic motion from one object and apply it to

Chapter 20: Dynamics Under the Basic Tab you can choose what Piece Mode you would like to use. Polygon treats each segment as its own object. 1 Piece will make the entire object a solid and considers it one piece. Point Set will read selection sets that you could create in Modeler.

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The Edit FX Tab allows you to change what pieces are linked to what nodes. This is handy if the tool doesnt quite link what you thought it would on complex objects.
NOTE: The MetaLink Object must be parented to the Dynamic object in order for FX_Metalink to work.

NOTE: For more information on dynamics see the Dynamics Section.

FX_MetaLink
FX_Metalink is a very powerful tool that allows you to use the dynamic motion from one object and apply it to another. In most cases the dynamic object contains very few polygons (2 point polygons) while the MetaLink object has a higher polygon count. NOTE: You may run into problems if the Dynamic Object is too rough. Subdividing the Dynamic Object may help. In the example below, a 2 point polygon chain with Cloth dynamics applied to it is the Parent of the Worm (MetaLink Object). The Work takes on the dynamic motion of the 2point polygon chain with zero calculation time.

The Smoothing option attempts to smooth the reshaping of the Metalink object. If unchecked, the reshaping can pass through the vertex of the Cage Object (dynamic Object).

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Replace Object--Choose the object to replace the particles Rotation--Give the item a rotation, once it is replaced Time Shift--The amount of time to wait to replace the object
NOTE: If you want to use other Displacement Maps and not have them be ignored by MetaLink also apply Metalink_Morph. Size effect time shift - Contains: start shift, end shift, start adjust (distance) and end adjust.

FX Metalink Morph
FX_Metalink_Morph is a displacement plug-in that enhances the functions of FX_Metalink. By itself, FX_ Metalink cannot use normal morphing information because it ignores bones, Morph Mapping, and Displacement Maps. However, if you use FX_Metalink with FX_Metalink _Morph, you can use normal morphing data. NOTE:The FX_Metalink _Morph plug-in can be added before or after FX_Metalink. FX_Metalink _Morph has one pop-up menu called Morph Mode. Set this to One time morph to execute morphing only one time. This mode is appropriate when the morphing is from Morph Mapping. Use Every time morph to execute morphing for each displacement process. This mode is appropriate when the morphing varies, like the Displacement Map of waves. The Non morph setting simply disables this plug-in.

Lock Cloned Item--Locks the current item to be the same cloned item Copy--The number of replacements to make ParticleFX_Link

Particles
Choose the particle group.

Node
Rotation - The choices in rotation are: random, align to path (h) and align to path (hp). Random will rotate the item starting from a random rotational position. align to path (h) Will align the item to a path using heading. align to path (hp) Will align the item to a path using heading and pitch.

ParticleFX DynamicLinker Allows you to replace particles with other objects. Particles--Choose the particle emitter to do the replacing.

Chapter 20: Dynamics Size effect time shift - Contains: start shift, end shift, start adjust (distance) and end adjust.

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Weight
This option sets an arbitrary weighting value that will inuence how factors like gravity affect the item.

Make Key
pre behavior - Contains: original, stay and size dissolve. post behavior - Contains: original, stay and size dissolve. distance/sec

Size
This option affects the outer boundary used for collision detection. It can also be used by volumetric plug-ins like HyperVoxels.

Resistance
This option adds an air resistance effect. Items will move slower as this value is increased.

FX_Motion Mode Tab

Momentum
This option adds in a momentum or increased mass effect. Items will tend to resist being stopped or slowed down.

Rotation Resistance
This option has the same effect as Resistance except that it affects the items rotational channels.

z-Rotation by wind(deg/m)
This option rotates the item in its bank channel as it moves or is affected by the wind.

make key - Generates a key for every frame. Group - Select an existing group or create a new one. Mode After collision - Choose an action post collision: none, reverse, random, stop. Start Frame - Choose what frame to start the effect. Start by event - Use this option if you want to trigger the motion upon collision.

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Copy
This option copies the current settings.

Vector Tab

Paste
This option pastes the current settings.

Motion Designer Controller

Motion Designer (Utilities > Plug-ins: Additional> MD_Controller) is a legacy tool that has been replaced with LightWaves dynamics tools (Hard FX, Soft FX, Cloth FX, etc.) and is available for use with older scene les. NOTE : The newer dynamics can read old Motion Designer les.

Initial Velocity
This option sets the initial direction and force.

Introduction
Motion Designer is LightWaves legacy soft body dynamics engine that reshapes objects according to wind, gravity, and object motions, by using elastic body models to create animation data. You can easily achieve realistic effects like draping cloth over objects, material apping in the wind, or jiggling jello, with Motion Designer. Because it is integrated into LightWave, Motion Designer can automatically take into account motions caused by displacement, bones, IK, and so on.

Velocity coordinates
This option sets whether these settings use the items local axes or world coordinates.

Initial Rotation(deg/s)
This option sets the items initial HPB rotation.

Random rotation start

This option randomizes the initial HPB rotation.

Update
This option updates/refreshes the current seeings in the Layout viewport. This is good to do with a heavy scene.

Chapter 20: Dynamics WARNING : Your Bounding Box Threshold ( Display Options Tab of the Preferences Panel) must be set high enough to display your Motion Designer targets. If not, you may encounter a cant scan objects... message dialog.

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Click Property to bring up the MotionDesigner Property Panel. Here you set the details of how MD affects the items in your scene. Click the Option button to set various global options, which are discussed later. Click Save to manually save the MD data to a MDD le.

Elastic Body Models

A standard LightWave object normally consists of points, polygons and surfaces. Motion Designer adds other properties to create its elastic body models. Points can be inuenced by gravity and air resistance, proportional to speed. Polygon edges are deemed springs that also inuence points. Surfaces have additional parameters that further dene the elastic body model. The spring force is calculated continuously to reproduce its motions.

Setting Parameters
To change a parameter, select it in the list. The selected parameters name will appear in the eld beneath the list window. You change the related value by entering a number in the input eld to the right.

Operating Motion Designer

You begin using Motion Designer by choosing Utilities > Additional> MD_Controller to access the MD Controller. The following panel is displayed.

Click Start to apply your MD settings to your LightWave scene. This button is used after you have set all of the MD properties to your satisfaction. Press your CTRL key to abort the calculation.

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LightWave 9 - Layout from the object list pop-up menu and click the Activate button. You can then apply MD parameters to it. Click Deactivate to deactivate an MD item. NOTE : Activate and Deactivate essentially add and remove the MD_Plug Displacement Map plug-in automatically

for you.

Initially youll want the ALL option active so that all objects are listed in the pop-up menu. Once you have dened the MD objects, you can uncheck ALL to list only dened objects. This may be useful if you have a lot of objects loaded into Layout. Group- You can group MD objects with a user-dened name to prevent unwanted interaction. This also works with Particle FX controllers. Target On- means the object is an elastic body model and can be inuenced by other Target or Collision objects. Collision Select- Normally, MD executes the collision calculation among all target and collision objects. The Collision Select function lets you specify which object the target collides with. Double-clicking the setting displays a dialog where you select the collision object. This function will improve the calculation speed. You can click some parameters in the list to toggle their state on or off. For lename parameters, you can doubleclick or press ENTER to bring up a le dialog. NOTE : For On/Off parameters, a value of 1 means On and 0 means off. Use the Collision-Detection function to specify collision detection on an object-by-object basis instead of surfaceby-surface. If this parameter is OFF, all of the objects surfaces are treated as if the (Surface Tab) Collisiondetection setting was OFF. Pressure effect causes the object to maintain its volume during a motion, as if it is lled with a stiffer gel, instead of, say, water. This works best when the object is a closed volume and spherical in shape. When Fiber structure is set to a value other than zero, the object seems to be made of a ber material. This function

Property Panel: Object Tab

The Object Tab is where you specify which objects to use and how Motion Designer treats them. Select the object

Chapter 20: Dynamics essentially weakens the force when the motion direction is different from that of the virtual ber. When the value is 100%, the force is zero, except along the ber. This setting also weakens the force from the sub-structure. DumpFileName is a special le that sets up an initial pose for the target object. This le is discussed below. Collision On- means the object is a collision object that will inuence target objects, if it collides with one. NOTE : You cannot have Target and Collision both set to ON for the same object. MddFileName- Generally, this setting is for backwards compatibility with prior versions of MD, which required you to manually specify motion data les. Motion Files- For Target objects, click SAVE MDD to save the generated motion to a le, which will be used subsequently to deform the object. Click DUMP to save the nal pose (position, speed) of a Target object to a le, based on the last frame calculated. In a subsequent session, you can specify this le as the DumpFileName parameter for a Target object and set a starting pose for the target. This is useful to have a realistic beginning state for the target.

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NOTE : If you do not want to use the Dump le, make sure you clear it from DumpFileName.

Using Motion Designer with SubPatch Objects

In order to use Motion Designer with SubPatch objects, you need to set Subdivision Order to Last on the Object Properties Panel. However, understand that Motion Designer does not directly interact with the underlying smooth SubPatch surface. Basically, it is a displacement plug-in and can only deform the cage. By postponing the subdivision until after all displacement deformations take place, Motion Designer can appear to work with the smooth SubPatch surface. Make sure the cage conforms closely to the underlying surface as much as possible--this will likely mean you will need to use a more complex cage than you would normally. This is particularly important when collision detection is involved.

Property Panel: Surface Tab

Apply physical characteristics to the surfaces of Target objects or Collision objects on the Surface Tab. To specify characteristics, select the surface from the surface list and assign parameters.

To use a dump le:

Set your Last Frame in Layout to the pose you want to start with. Start the calculation. After the calculation, click DUMP and save the Dump le. Specify the saved Dump le for the DumpFileName parameter of the Target object. The Target object will not begin in this state.

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LightWave 9 - Layout Resistance controls the amount of air resistance. Parallel Resistance controls the amount of air resistance parallel to the surface. An object, such as a oor tile, will fall quicker if turned on its edge. The default value of 100% for parallel resistance yields normal results and should be used for items like falling leaves and ags. If for some reason you do not desire this effect, reduce the setting. Back-resistance species the air resistance for the back of a surface (i.e., opposite the surface normals direction). At 100%, the back side is affected by wind the same as the front. At a value lower than 100%, the back side is affected more by wind. This function can be effective when your wind becomes weak due to overlapped objects.

Structure Settings
Fixed- The shape of polygons with Fixed On remains intact. Sub-Structure- The surface of a pure, elastic body model has a high degree of freedom, which causes the object to easily distort. To prevent distortion, you can apply an auxiliary MD form, called a Sub-structure, to restrict the instability of the surface. This can improve your results with a two-dimensional object (i.e., one with no thickness) making it act as if it has some thickness. However, this reinforcement can require a high Sub-structure setting that can take longer to calculate.

Basic Settings
Weight denes the weight of the material. Use the Weight +- parameter to add randomness to the Weight parameter. The Spring coefcient controls the springiness or stiffness of the material. Viscosity controls the impact of a collision. If an object bounces, a higher Viscosity value will have less bounce motion because the bouncing force is absorbed by the Viscosity.

When Sub-structure is used on a square mesh, it creates something that looks like two triangular polygons placed on top of each other in opposite directions. The sub-structure mitigates the tendencies to bend and to resist bending in certain directions. When the Sub-structure value is non-zero, the auxiliary form is applied. The higher the value, the more the form will have a tendency to keep its shape. Hold-Structure- Because a pure elastic body model simulates only the surface structure, it can be limited to two-dimensional motions, like with a bed sheet. In order to

Chapter 20: Dynamics simulate elastic three-dimensional motions, such as some gelatin, a Hold-structure needs to be used. This parameter causes a surface to tend to maintain its original shape, like gelatin does when it jiggles. NOTE : The effect of Hold-structure is uniform throughout the surface, while with Sub-structure it is non-linear, which will often result in a more natural look. You can use a combination of both to achieve just the right result. Smoothing- To smooth out the transition between, say, a Fixed surface and Hold-structure, apply some level of Smoothing to both surfaces. This can help prevent unwanted creases and wrinkles occurring between the two areas. Stretch-limit- To prevent a surface from stretching like rubber, lower the Stretch-limit below the default value of 100%. This restricts the amount of the surface to be stretched. NOTE : Although you could also increase the Spring value to reduce stretching, increasing that value can make the surface too complex and cause other problems, like weird folds. Compress Stress controls the amount of compression a surface exhibits as a result of stress. A soft fabric like cotton can be made using a large Spring value and a low Compress stress setting. A stiffer fabric would use a higher Compress stress setting. NOTE : You can easily adjust the apparent thickness of a drape by adjusting Compress Stress. Shrink reduces the surface to a specied size. For example, a value of 90% reduces the size of the surface to 90%. Use Shrink to reduce the looseness of a dress or to create frills.

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Collision Settings
HINT: Try to use Self Collision and Collision Detection only on necessary surfaces to minimize calculation time. The Self Collision setting can prevent an object from crossing itself when the object is transformed. Self Collision is calculated based on a point on the target object and a polygon on the collision object. If a surface has Self Collision and Collision Detection active, Self Collision is computed on the same surface. Self Collision works in much the same way Collision Detection does, and there is no collision detection for polygon edges. As such, you may also want to adjust Skin Thickness to avoid errant point penetrations. Note that unlike Collision Detection, Self Collision is detected even if the motion is from behind the polygon. Collision Detection reects the inuence of other objects upon the motion of an object. This lets you create complex motions caused by obstacles. The simulation is performed by taking an object that collides (the collision object) with the elastic body model (the target object) into the calculation. The direction of the surface normal plays an important part in collision detection. The target object must collide with the surface of the collision object. If it contacts the surface from the rear (i.e., away from the surface normal), the target object will simply pass through. As such, if you need collision detection inside a container, for example, youll need to have interior facing surface normals. When Single-sided is ON, surfaces with normals facing the same direction will not collide. If the collision is between surfaces with opposing normals, you can reduce calculation time by turning this ON. If you will have collisions between surface normals facing the same direction, you should turn this OFF.

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LightWave 9 - Layout Use the COPY and PASTE buttons to copy and paste the current settings between surfaces. Use the SAVE button to save the current surface settings to a le on your hard drive. Use the LOAD button to load the settings from a previously saved le. If you save the les to the SURFACES subdirectory in your Content directory, they will appear in the Material Library pop-up menu, discussed below. Material Library This pop-up menu (located near the Hide button) contains pre-dened sets of surface parameters. Property Panel: Environment Tab The Gravity and Wind settings are specied on the Environment Tab. All of these settings affect Target objects.

Skin Thickness- You should understand that the collision is detected using a point on the target object (elastic body model) and a polygon of the collision object. As a result, a polygon of the target object can possibly penetrate the collision objectusually an undesirable result. Use the Skin Thickness (Surface Tab) setting to avoid undesired surface penetration like the example below. Skin Thickness, set in meters, creates a gap between the collision and target objects, within which a collision is deemed to have occurred. Make sure you specify Skin Thickness for the surface of the collision object, not the surface of the target object. Friction- Like real world friction, the Friction parameter makes the surface less slippery. So if you want the target object to tend to slip off the collision object, set Friction to 0. If you want it to stick more, increase the value. Bound force adds a rebounding speed change at collision, if set greater than 0. At 1, the speed is the same as the collision object. At 2, it rebounds at the collision speed. Action force decides whether the colliding object receives the reaction force at the time of the collision, or not. This function does not affect the reaction force that the collision object receives. Bind force causes the target to adhere to the collision surface. If you have some level of Bind force, Fix Force will also be available. Fix Force causes the target object to stick to the surface and not slide around.

Other Surface Controls

Hide-When Hide is unchecked, MD displays all of the Surface parameters that you can specify. When Hide is checked, MD hides all parameters at their default values. This display mode helps you zero in on just the settings you have tweaked.

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Gravity
Specify the direction and intensity of gravity along the world axes.

Helpful Tips
With Motion Designer, you can adjust motions intuitively since MD is based on physical models. You can achieve heavy motions by increasing the Weight value, and you can create light motions by decreasing Weight. Reducing the Spring coefcient creates soft motions, while raising Spring produces motions with a stronger repelling force. Setting the coefcient to an extremely large value creates stiff motions. Since Motion Designer uses elastic body models as calculation models, based on mass, spring, and resistance, unexpected vibration may appear in the calculated motions. One of the following adjustments may help correct the problem: Increase Resistance to make moving more difcult. Reduce the Spring coefcient. This will reduce the force that causes vibration. Increase the Weight to stabilize the surface. Abnormal motion, including vibration, may be the result of (gasp! ) calculation errors. Remember, the motion is approximated based only on numeric values. This problem may be solved by adjusting the accuracy of the calculations using the Calculate Resolution setting on the Motion Designer Options Panel, discussed below.

Wind1/Wind2
Specify the direction and intensity of two winds along the world axes.

Turbulence
Specify the direction and intensity of turbulence along the world axes. NOTE : The strength of turbulence is affected by the wind.

Wavelength
Specify the wavelength of the turbulence.

Wind Mode
The Wind Mode controls the repeating pattern for Wind1 and Wind2. Random randomizes the pattern according to the specied Random-ratio. The Cycle setting swaps Wind1 and Wind2 every Cycle-length period, specied in seconds. Gust uses Wind2 only for the duration beginning with Gust-start (in seconds) for the Gust-length (in seconds). Wind1 is used at other times. Default ignores the Wind1 setting and uses only Wind2.

Options Panel
The Motion Designer Options Panel is displayed when you click on the Option button on the main Motion Designer Panel.

SAVE/LOAD
Use the SAVE button to save the current Environment settings to a le on your hard drive. Use the LOAD button to load the settings from a previously saved le.

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LightWave 9 - Layout If Update in calculation is checked, Layout is updated while MD calculates. Step is a great time-saving feature. It sets the frame increment for MD calculations. Since LightWave will obviously interpolate movement between frames, it is usually not necessary to set this to 1. You may often get away with 3, 5, or even higher settings, depending on the scene.

The Calculate Resolution setting controls the accuracy of the motion calculations. The default is 10. Increasing this value improves the accuracy of calculation, but as you might expect, it also increases the amount of calculation. Extremely large values will result in unusually long calculation times. If you are using a multi-processor machine, specify the number of CPUs in Thread max eld. When the Safe Mode option is unchecked, some internal calculation restrictions are eased. This allows faster calculations, but may result in unwanted vibrations, as well as different results for calculations based on the same parameter values. You can control how MD updates by using the Update Mode pop-up menu. Auto updates only targets that have had parameters changed. Use select only if you have multiple targets, then only the selected targets will be updated. All targets updates all targets. Use this if your system is fast.

Chapter 21:Environments

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Chapter 21: Environments

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Environments
Fire! Smoke! Flowing Magma! This is where you add these types of dynamic effects. You can also create fog effects, or even enhance your backgrounds with the effects controls.

Gradient Backdrops
LightWaves Gradient Backdrop settings essentially provide a quick earth-like environment background. Note that no shadows can be cast on the backdrop since it really isnt there. Although youre unlikely to use it much for real-life imagery, it is great for faking a sky behind mountain objects, instructional animations, and logo animations. Use it when you need something to stick in the background.

Backdrop Options (default keyboard shortcut

Ctrl F5 )

LightWave lets you change the colors of the backdrop behind all of the objects in a scene. The settings are on the Backdrop Tab of the Effects Panel ( Window > Backdrop Options). You can elect to have a solid color using the Backdrop Color setting or a gradient color backdrop. By default, the backdrop is solid black.

There are actually two gradient areas. Think of it as a huge sphere cut into two halves. One half rests on top of the Y axis plane, and the other half sits directly beneath it.

NOTE: If you have any reective surfaces and you want the backdrop included in the reection, set the Reection options on the Surface Editors Environment Tab to one of the backdrop options. The Sky Color begins all around the edge of the top half of the sphere and gradually turns into the Zenith Color moving towards the top. The Ground Color begins all around the

Chapter 21:Environments edge of the bottom half of the sphere and gradually turns into the Nadir Color moving towards the bottom. Note that there is no gradual change of color between the Sky Color and Ground Color. HINT: If you want the Gradient Backdrop to blend everywhere with no sharp color change, make the Sky Color and Ground Color the

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HINT: The default gradient colors are useful when simulating a reective chrome surface.

same.

The camera is always positioned right in the center of the sphere. Thus, if you move the camera, the Gradient Backdrop will always look the same. However, if you rotate the camera, you will see the various colors. The Sky Squeeze value determines how the Zenith and Sky colors are blended. The Ground Squeeze value determines how the Ground and Nadir colors are blended. The default value of 2.0 yields a nice spread between the various colors. A lower value will spread the change in colors over a greater area and a higher value will compress the change.

Environments
Several plugins may be used to create exciting backgrounds for your animations. You access these plugins by adding them on the Add Environment pop-up menu on the Backdrop Tab of the Effects Panel.

Image World
Sky and Ground Squeeze both at 20.0

The Image World Environment lets you apply an image as a spherical environment wrap; this approach is perfect for high dynamic range images. You can offset the heading and pitch of the image, as well as adjust its brightness.

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LightWave 9 - Layout NOTE: For more information on the Texture Editor see the Texture Editor section in Chapter 36: Surface Editor, starting on page

971.

Background Booster
The Background Booster tool ( Window>Background Booster) gives you the ability to easily edit the Background Gradient settings. Use the Boost function to multiply each of the RGB values by the boost percentage.

Textured Environment
The Textured Environment lets you apply a texture as a spherical environment wrap; this approach is perfect for high dynamic range images. Clicking the Texture button launches the standard Texture Editor giving you access to gradients, procedurals, and the use of images to create an endless variety of textures.

Volumetrics and Fog Options

(default keyboard shortcut Ctrl F6 )

The texture is not stuck to the camera background, like a normal background image Therefore, as you move the camera, you will pan over the environment. An interesting application would be to use a gradient and select the (camera) Heading or Pitch as the Input Parameter. This lets you vary a glorious sunset sky based on the rotation of the camera. You might also use this to add a nebula behind your stareld using a simple Turbulence or Fractal Noise procedural texture.

Chapter 21:Environments LightWave features volumetric effects essentially lighting and particle effects with physical volume. These effects are common in everyday life and can play a key role in creating dramatic realistic environments. However, they are difcult to reproduce using standard polygonal models.

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homogeneous manner. The water particles in the fog cause a dispersion/absorption phenomenon that causes the lighting effect, while the density distribution gives the global appearance of the fog. If you want a thick fog lying on the ground and fading with altitude, you will have to use a density distribution that makes the density high at lower altitudes and low at higher altitudes. If you want to add turbulence in the fog (to have a more cloudy appearance), you can add fractal noise, which creates a 3D density eld.

Computational Issues
Volumetrics are calculated by integrating all the scattering/ absorption contributions along a ray (which comes from the camera). When you use a 3D fractal density eld, the integration must be made numerically with a limited number of sampling points. In this case, the values will be calculated at each sampling point, which means that for 50 sampling points, the algorithm calculates 50 density eld values, 50 lighting values, and 50 scattering/absorption values. All those values can take a lot of time to compute. Using fewer sampling points will result in a faster rendering but will introduce numerical errors: this is volumetric aliasing. Volumetric shadows can be obtained this way by measuring the lighting conditions at each sampling point along the ray. When you work with a normal density distribution, you can make the integration literally, which gives a much faster rendering. But in this model (which we call fast model), it is not possible to measure lighting conditions along the ray, and as a consequence it is not possible to get volumetric shadows. Another important note about numerical issues is how to adjust values to get the desired effect. The intensity of the effect is always related to the length of the medium crossed by the ray. This is obvious if you compare cigarette smoke to smoke from a large re the size of the volume has a big inuence on the result. The behaviour of light may also change completely when the volume size changes, because absorption may overpower scattering, and vice versa. A good example of this is clouds.

Copyright Pixel Magic

Background
A very common example of volumetric lighting is the atmosphere: the color of the sky comes from the scattering and absorption of light in the different layers of the atmosphere. The combination of light scattering and absorption is the very core of volumetric lighting effects. Additionally, other parameters must also be taken into account, like volume size and shape, density distribution inside the volume, lighting conditions, and behaviour of light inside the medium. Adjusting these parameters lets you create a wide range of natural effects. The sky, for example, is usually blue because light attenuation depends on wavelength and distance. When the sun is at the zenith, its light crosses fewer layers of atmosphere than when the sun is on the horizon. Blue light is stronger at the zenith than at sunset because the thinner atmosphere does not interfere with its shorter wavelength. In red sunsets, the thicker layers of atmosphere attenuate blue light, but the longer wavelength of red light passes through the atmospheric layers. Fog is another good example. It is a medium composed of vaporised water where density is distributed in a non-

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When you look at clouds, you see that small thin clouds are bright and totally white, while big clouds have dark grey areas and a thin white border. The dark grey color comes from the absorption of light inside the cloud. Even the scattering of light emitted inside the cloud is absorbed from the point of scattering to the boundaries of the cloud. In this example, absorption takes precedence over scattering when thickness gets bigger. However, under other circumstances, the opposite could occur. When you use high absorption and scattering values, you can create explosion-like effects, where there is very high contrast between bright and dark areas. In conclusion, when adjusting parameters, you must be aware of the scale of the object you are working on. About Particles When you work with particles, a sphere of gas is associated with each particle. As a result, a particle cloud is really just a union of spheres. Computing the effect for every particle can be computationally intensive, particularly when their spheres overlap one another. The solution is the automatic particle sizing option, which evaluates a particle size so that each particle is close to another. The result is a dense cloud optimised for numerical integration and lower rendering times.

Normal Fog
LightWave can generate a quick fog effect that is useful for many special effects. Just as objects seem to blend into real fog with distance, the effect fades the objects away into the fog color you set. Fog surrounds the camera in all directions, as though the camera were in the middle of a huge spherical fog bank extending in all directions. The Fog settings are on the Volumetric Tab of the Effects Panel ( Window> Volumetrics and Fog Options). In setting up fog, you will set a minimum and maximum distance from the camera. Within and beyond this range, objects will take on some amount of the Fog Color. You can also specify the percent of fog color that objects take on at the minimum and maximum distances.

The Fog Type pop-up menu sets the characteristics of your fog. Off, obviously, turns off the fog effect. The other fog types differ in how the effect falls off toward the camera. Linear falls off in a linear manner. Nonlinear 1 is somewhat more realistic in appearance, since the fog will appear to grow thicker with distance. Nonlinear 2 has a steeper falloff curve. Realistic generates realistic fog that works correctly with objects that have reection, refraction and/or transparency that are inside the fog. Unlike the other fog modes, it has no exact limit to the fog rage.

Chapter 21:Environments Its important to realize that the Fog feature doesnt actually calculate a wispy volumetric fog around objects, but rather changes the color of the objects to that color chosen as the Fog Color. As such, the backdrop will receive no amount of fog. For volumetric 3D fog, use the Ground Fog volumetric, discussed later. A negative Minimum Distance will start the fog behind the camera. You can even enter a larger minimum amount than the Maximum Distance amount, which results in an effect whereby objects will render in more of the fog when closer to the camera. By default, fog is applied linearly between the Minimum Distance and Maximum Distance. Non-linear options are also available . They apply the fog amount more rapidly as they are moved away from the camera, then less so as they approach the maximum distance. The small graph to the left of the setting gives you an indication of the fog application over distance. The Use Backdrop Color option causes an object to blend in with whatever backdrop you have set, including a background image. This can have the effect of making objects appear slightly transparent. Use this option to simulate the effects of an underwater environment or a hazy, foggy day with an appropriate Backdrop Color like bluish green for underwater and greyish white for a foggy day. If you add the Texture Environment environment ( Window > Backdrop Options) and also activate Use Backdrop Color, your fog (and backdrop) can use a texture.

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Textured Fog

NOTE: The rendering speed of the Fast Fog Render Type for the Ground Fog volumetric comes at a price. Because it is not a full volumetric effect, it will not always blend accurately with other volumetric effects, like volumetric lights. This may result in visible artifacts in your rendered images.

Volumetric Antialiasing
The Volumetric Antialiasing option activates or deactivates the antialiasing of volumetric plugins and volumetric lights. If this option is off, the volumetric effects from the rst rendering pass are stored and reused in later passes, instead of being re-rendered in each pass. Obviously, this can save rendering time, but will require more memory and may cause problems when used in conjunction with motion blur or depth of eld.

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Ground Fog
Use the Ground Fog volumetric plugin to add threedimensional fog to your scene. The fog has actual physical size so, for example, the camera can move in and out of the fog. This differs fundamentally from normal fog, discussed previously, where the camera is always within the fog.

Volumetric Plugins
Volumetric Plugins are added on the Volumetrics Tab of the Effects Panel.

With the Render Type pop-up menu, you can choose between two different types of Ground Fog. Fast Fog is a quick-rendering fog with a uniform thickness. It is basically the three-dimensional version of normal fog. Ray Marcher adds an uneven fog, particularly when you use a texture. Since this fog varies by precise physical position, like real fog, it is computationally intensive, but generally yields a more accurate and realistic result. When using Ray Marcher, you can throttle the amount of computations using the Quality pop-up menu at the bottom of the panel. Add a texture by activating the Use Texture option. Clicking the Edit Texture button will bring up the standard Texture Editor. A fog texture will make your fog

Chapter 21:Environments more interesting and less at. The Top and Bottom settings control the altitude of the fog, that is, where your fog starts and stops vertically. Falloff determines how the fog decreases to zero, from the Bottom to the Top. The higher the value, the more the fog will decrease its density. Note that the Ray Marcher mode tends to fall off quickly at the fogs edges, while Fast Fog has a uniform linear fall off. NOTE: Make sure you know where your camera is when using GroundFog. The effect is really best seen from outside of the fog. If your camera is inside the fog, changing settings may appear to have little effect. In fact, if your camera is always within the fog, you may want to just use the (faster) normal fog. The Luminosity and Opacity values are the values where the fog is at its thickest. Nominal Distance is the distance at which the fog has a medium effect it is not like standard Fogs Minimum Distance. You will want to use small values for small-scale scenes. Large-scale scenes may require higher values to keep close objects from getting too affected by the fog. You can set the color of the fog with the Color setting or you can just use the backdrop color.

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No Fog

FastFog

Ray Marcher Fog using a Texture

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HyperVoxels
With ordinary polygonal objects, realistic effects like liquids, smoke, clouds, and re are difcult, if not impossible, to achieve without HyperVoxels. It simplies the creation of volumetric rendering effects such as photo-realistic clouds, ames, explosions, dust, nebulae, contrails, uids, smoke, ash, pyroclastics, gelatin, electron-microscope images, rusted materials, detailed solid and rocky surfaces, and much, much more. NOTE: For more information about HyperVoxels see the HyperVoxels section.

HyperVoxels
With ordinary polygonal objects, realistic effects like liquids, smoke, clouds, and re are difcult, if not impossible, to achieve without HyperVoxels. It simplies the creation of volumetric rendering effects such as photo-realistic clouds, ames, explosions, dust, nebulas, contrails, uids, smoke, ash, pyroclastics, gelatin, electro-microscopic images, rusted materials, detailed solid and rocky surfaces, and much, much more.

HyperVoxels have computed mass, as opposed to the modelled mass of normal LightWave objects. This opens the door to effects of greater complexity. You can now transform objects dynamically, like merging and slicing objects, without Modeling multiple geometries. A common example of this is the action of the substance inside lava lamps. HyperVoxels can be a surface, volume, or sprite. Surface HyperVoxels are similar to standard LightWave objects. They have a dened surface, but no interior. If you go inside such an object, there is nothing. Volume HyperVoxels, on the other hand, have computed volume. You would use this option to create effects like gases, ames, clouds, explosions, or even short hair or fur. Your camera can go inside these HyperVoxels and still see the texture. The Sprite Mode is a slice of a volume HyperVoxel. It renders more quickly, but lacks much of the volume modes 3D quality. The HyperVoxels volumetric lter is usually applied to a points-only object or a null object. The reason is that polygons may be visible after rendering and usually this is not desired. However, having polygons may make the object easier to see in Layout. In such cases, you can use the Unseen by Camera object property.

Chapter 21:Environments HyperVoxel textures are 3D algorithmic textures, unlike normal surface Bump Maps, which only appear to have depth. This means you can actually get very close to the surface and the textures will look three dimensional. HyperVoxels feature sub-pixel displacement, which results in surface details no matter how close you get. You can determine the position of HyperVoxels by using a null object or an objects points. Moving the object will move the HyperVoxel object. Changing the position of an objects internal points will also change the look of a HyperVoxel object. HyperVoxels will appear around each point and their proximity to each other affects how the object appears on the whole. A particle animation system is not required. You can achieve many spectacular effects using null objects or points animated by conventional means. However, to achieve realistic dynamic liquid effects, you will probably need a LightWave particle system, like Particle FX.

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HyperVoxels and Transparent Surfaces

Because volumetrics are ray-traced, to see a HyperVoxel behind a transparent surface, you must ray trace transparent surfaces. You can do this by simply activating the Ray Trace Transparency option on the Render Options Panel. However, this is not necessary if the Refraction Index of the objects transparent surface (Surface Editor) is set greater than 1.0 (even 1.001) and Ray Trace Refraction on the Render Options Panel is enabled. Also, if you want to see an object behind a transparent HyperVoxel surface, you need to set the Refraction Option to Ray Tracing + Backdrop on the HyperVoxels Shading, Environment Tab.

Jump-starting with HyperVoxels

Here are some short exercises to jump-start you with HyperVoxels. This exercise gives you a quick hands-on feel for how to use HyperVoxels.

Step 1: Add a null object to an empty scene in Layout.

NOTE: HyperVoxel objects exist just as normal objects do. Thus, they cast shadows, are reected, and so on. However, currently, plugins do not have access to all lighting information. As a result, HyperVoxels will continue to receive shadows, even if the Receive Shadows option on the Object Properties Panel is disabled.

Step 2: Add HyperVoxels from the Add Volumetric drop down menu ( Window > Volumetrics and Fog Options) or hit Ctrl F6. Open the HyperVoxels Settings Panel by double clicking on it in the list.

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Step 5: Make sure the Automatic Preview options are active so we can see the results of your efforts. Automatic Preview updates the preview as you make changes, so you dont have to keep clicking Render.

Step 3: On the HyperVoxels Panel, double-click on the null in the list window. This will activate HyperVoxels for this object. A check will appear to the left of its name. (You could also select the object and click the Activate button.)

Open VIPER (there is a button for it on the Render tab, or you can hit F7). You should already see a rather dull ball in the VIPER windowof course its a lot more interesting than a rendered null. NOTE: You can preview animated textures with VIPER. Remember that VIPER uses the camera view, so make sure the camera can see your particles.

Step 4: Object Type should be set to Surface. When you activate an object, the automatic size function is performed. The value 1m should appear in the Particle Size eld.

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Step 7: Click on the HyperTexture Tab. This is where you dene the surface textureessentially the terrain of the surface. Select FBM from the Texture pop-up. Notice that this is similar to setting a surface procedural texture.

Step 6: Change the Particle size to 2. The ball should be larger now. Activate the Draft Mode to speed VIPER up if you would like to.

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LightWave 9 - Layout Step 2: Go to the HyperTexture Tab and select Turbulence as the Texture. You should now see a nice wispy volumetric cloud. This object is totally three dimensional. You could y the camera into it and continue to see all of the details.

VIPER Render
Go ahead and play around with the various settings on this tab and watch the HyperVoxel change. You can actually apply all of the standard surface attributes to HyperVoxels on the Shading Tab. All of the settings should be familiar to you since they are identical in name and operation to the normal LightWave Surface settings. Try changing the various values and see their effects on VIPER.

Exercise: HyperVoxel volumetrics

This exercise will give you a avour of some of the volumetric features. Step 1: Using the HyperVoxel from the previous exercise, change the Object Type from Surface to Volume.

Step 3: Lets add some color. Go to Shading Tab > Basic Tab and click the Color Texture button.

Chapter 21:Environments Step 4: Change the default Layer Type to a Gradient and use Local Density as the Input Parameter. This will apply the gradient based on the density of the cloud.

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Step 5: Create three keys: blue, yellow, and red, top to bottom. To create these keys, just click in the gradient bar. You will see VIPER updating the preview as you make changes. Click Use Texture to close the panel when you are done. Step 6: The options on the Shading Tab > Basic Tab control the basic look of your volumetric HyperVoxel. You can adjust the color, opacity, and density. The lower half of the tab controls the fractal look of the object. Try playing with the settings to see their effects.

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Step 7: Click on the Advanced Sub Tab. As you might expect, this tab contains more advanced options. Included are options to dene how the HyperVoxel object is lit, as well as self-shadow options.

Step 3: Choose Window > Volumetrics and Fog Options to open its panel. Step 4: Activate HyperVoxels for all three objects.

Step 8: Try playing with the various settings, including the Sprite Mode.

Exercise: Blending HyperVoxel Objects

This exercise shows how different HyperVoxel objects can interact with one another. Step 1: Add three null objects to an empty scene in Layout. Step 2: Move and keyframe Null (1) to Y = 1m and Null (3) to Y = -1m.

Chapter 21:Environments Step 5: Open VIPER and set Preview Options to Scene Preview. This will give us a preview of all of the HyperVoxel objects in the scene.

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Step 7: For each HyperVoxel set the Blending Group to Blend Group (1) and the Blending Mode to Additive (Geometry Tab). By placing all of the HyperVoxels in the same group, they can interact with each other.

Step 6: Select Null (1) and choose New Group from the Blending Group pop-up menu on Geometry Tab. Accept the default name Blend Group (1) by clicking OK.

Step 8: Try changing the Color (Shading Tab > Basic Tab) of each null and giving them Texture (HyperTexture Tab).

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Preview Options
When used with HyperVoxels, the Preview Options popup menu on the VIPER window has some options. Object Preview gives you a preview of the selected HyperVoxel object only from the cameras perspective.

Particle Preview will give you an enlarged view of a single particle, which is particularly helpful if your HyperVoxel object consists of many particles. Scene Preview will show you all of the HyperVoxel objects which are visible from the cameras perspective.

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Use Z-Buffer
The Use Z-Buffer in Preview option (on the main HyperVoxel Panel) allows you to preview your HyperVoxels in the last rendered frame. (Note: Object Preview or Scene Preview modes only.) This requires that the Enable VIPER option be active on the Render Options Panel.

Use the Copy button to copy the settings for the selected HyperVoxel object to a memory buffer. These can be pasted to the currently selected HyperVoxel object using the Paste button. You can enable/disable HyperVoxels for an activated object by clicking in the checkmark column and you will not lose your settings. The Activate button will activate the selected object and set all settings to their defaults. The Deactivate button places the object in an inactive default state. With Activate and Deactivate, you will lose any existing settings. If the Show pop-up menu is set to All Objects, then all objects in the scene will be listed. HyperVoxels Only will list only HyperVoxel objects; however, this includes disabled HyperVoxel objects.

Sprites
The Sprite mode is a simplied two-dimensional slice (or slices) of a HyperVoxel, so it can quickly produce results to give you a fast sketch of the HyperVoxels rendered appearance. You might think of it as a slice of a Volume that has been mapped on a polygon that always faces the camera. You may want to use Sprite to accelerate the setup process for Surface or Volume modes. Its even great for instances where you dont need a full 3D volumetric effect, like a smokestack in the distance. Although Sprites are two-dimensional in nature, you can still y a camera through them. The sprite will begin to dissolve when the camera gets into it and eventually fully dissolve when the camera hits the slice.

Sprite Texture Resolution

The Sprite Texture Resolution setting (on the main HyperVoxel Panel) is a Display setting and does not affect your rendered HyperVoxels nor VIPER. It allows you to set the quality of textures used on HyperVoxel particles in Layout.

HyperVoxels Setting Management

Load/Save buttons allow you to retrieve and store HyperVoxels setting les. This can be used to create a library of attributes.

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Geometry Tab
Enter a specic radius for the individual particles in the Particle Size eld. Click Automatic Sizing to compute an average size this is a handy way to nd a starting point. The average particle size is based on the shape of the entire object HyperVoxels surfaces will not intersect at this setting.

Stretching and Rotating HyperVoxels

You can stretch HyperVoxels on a selected axis or based on velocity (Stretch Direction). The amount of stretching is determined by the Stretch Amount setting, which may be animated. When using nulls, you may stretch HyperVoxels by animating normal Layout XYZ size values.

Left: Without Stretch Direction, Right With Stretch Direction

HyperVoxels also respect the rotation of the object. NOTE: When you rst activate an object, automatic sizing is performed for you. Rendering time is related to how much the particles intersect each other the more intersections you have, the longer the rendering time. For fastest rendering, always try to use the smallest number of particles and the smallest Particle Size that achieves acceptable results. Size Variation sets the maximum percent that the particle size can vary. For example, a particle size of 1m with a variation of 100% can be as small as 1m and as large as 2m. Using a variation of 50% would yield particles ranging from 1m to 1.5m in size. Use this setting to create random disturbances in the surface. The Maintain Volume option on the HyperVoxel Panel Geometry Tab will cause the HyperVoxels to maintain their volume. This means that when they get squashed, they will maintain the same area.

Align to Path
Align to Path causes the HyperVoxels to rotate as they follow a path. This can be particularly important when using particles.

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Blending HyperVoxels

Separate HyperVoxel items can interact with one another. You can individually set how the selected object interacts with other HyperVoxel objects. In order for HyperVoxels to interact: All must belong to the same Blending Group. All must have a Blending Mode selected. To view with VIPER, you must have Scene Preview set as the Preview Options. Here, the two objects are shown separately:

No Blending

Additive will smoothly blend HyperVoxels.

Object 1 Additive, Object 2 Additive

Negative will make the object push away portions of other HyperVoxel items that it comes in contact with sort of like an animated boolean effect.
Left: Object 1, Right: Object 2

(none) means it will not interact with other HyperVoxel items.

Object 1 Additive, Object 2 Negative

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Effector is kind of a cross between Additive and Negative.

The Blending Box will enable/disable the surface tension of HyperVoxels. Checked, Blending will result in the HyperVoxels connecting in close proximity. Unchecked, the HyperVoxels will not connect in close proximity. With Blending off, you can create things like sand, gravel, and other loose particulate matter. Use ParticleStorm Color

Object 1 Additive, Object 2 Effector

The HyperVoxels will use the color from Particle Storm particles, particles, if available. Particle Storm (now retitled Napalm) is a plugin available from Dynamic Realities. NOTE: The HyperVoxels Particles Displacement plugin lets you set the HyperVoxels particle base color to that of the Vertex Color Map, if one exists.

A Blending Group is the group of HyperVoxel objects which you want to interact with each other. You can select an existing group or create a new one.

Show Particles
The Show Particles option will display a bounding sphere in viewports.

Shading Tab: Surface Mode

The parameters on the Shading Tab work just like their cousins on the Surface Editor.

Chapter 21:Environments Self Shadows lets the HyperVoxel cast shadows on itself. (The HyperVoxel will cast shadows on other objects in the normal way.) Full Refraction forces rays to bounce each time a new refracting (i.e., transparent) surface is found. If this option is inactive, one refraction bounce is computed, which is enough most of the time. Full Refraction will, of course, increase render time, but will result in more sophisticated effects. HINT: You might try the (faster-rendering) corresponding bump textures on the Shading Tab without HyperTextures, if you dont need the true surface details. Remember this: Dont get hyper if bumping will do or A bump in the night is not worth getting hyper over.

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The Thickness setting, which defaults to 50%, lets you adjust the general heaviness of the volume. Higher Smoothing values yield less of a hard-edged look and volumes will appear more wispy.

Baking HyperVoxels
The baking feature subdivides HyperVoxels into a 3D grid of subvolumes (a space subdivision). This dramatically reduces the necessary computations and allows preprocessing of the HyperVoxel effect, including shadows, textures, and so on. The result is essentially a stack of Image Maps. Click the Options button to display the baking options. The size of the image map stack is set on the Resolution pop-up menu. The rst two numbers dene the size of the images and the third denes the number of frames. Enter the name of the le to save in the Filename eld. The animation codec (File Type) used when saving the volume data is very important. By default it uses QuickTime uncompressed because this format preserves the alpha channel. This is important because the alpha channel encodes the volume opacity information. Many codecs dont handle the alpha channel properly and the opacity information will be compromised. (Note that you could edit the le externally in another program or even create one from scratch.)

Shading Tab: Volume Mode

The options on the Shading Tab are different for Volume HyperVoxels, which are gas- or cloud-type effects. Use Color, Luminosity, Opacity, and Density settings to change those parameters for the volumetric object.

Click Bake Object to execute the baking computation. When complete, you should notice that most of the normal settings will be ghosted except for some basic ones like Color, Luminosity, and so on. These can be adjusted to change the look of the baked object.

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LightWave 9 - Layout increase render time signicantly, especially when you are trying to simulate very dense clouds, like volcanic smoke. The Texture shadows option yields a very realistic shading of the hypertexture, but increases rendering time signicantly. If you disable this option, you will miss all of the hypertexture shadow details. Use the Shadow Quality pop-up menu to choose the render quality of the shadows. The Shadow Strength sets the darkness of the shadows. The Illumination pop-up menu determines how the HyperVoxels volume is lighted. Self acts as if the light comes from the viewer. It can be useful to see more details on the object. With Constant, the scattering of light is constant, that is, the amount of light scattered at one point is proportional to the amount of light received at that point. Rayleigh simulates a strong forward scattering of light within the volume. Light scatters in the direction of the light relative to the viewer, which means that illumination will be at its maximum when the light faces the viewer. This is perfect for back-lit clouds, smoke, and so on. Beer uses the patterns sample density amount as the illumination value, dramatically reducing contrast between lighted areas. The setting uses the physical model for scattering of light inside a gas, and is a good setting for clouds. For a more cartoony look, try CelShade. You can choose to have all lights affect the HyperVoxel with Use All Lights, or choose one or two specic lights. HINT: Try to avoid using these Light options, if you are ray tracing shadows. Ray-traced shadows on volumetrics is incredibly computationally intensive and will often result in unacceptable rendering times. A single pixel in volumetrics requires 20 or more samples and a shadow is ray traced for every sample. Try to fake lighting with Ambient Intensity and surface Luminosity or use Shadow Map Spotlights.

Volume Mode Advanced Sub-tab

The various items on the Render Quality pop-up menu determine the level of detail HyperVoxels uses to render the volume. The default is Medium and should be adequate for most situations. Near Clip is the distance from the camera where the rendering starts. The default value is normally ne. A lower value will render ner details, but take longer to render. You might adjust this setting if the camera was inside a cloud. It really depends on the scale of the HyperVoxel objects and the scale of the details you want to see.

The Volumetric Shadows option creates shadows within the volume, which add detail and realism. However, it can

Chapter 21:Environments Ambient Color lets you specify the ambient light color of the volume. This setting works hand-in-hand with the Color setting on the Shader Tab. Ambient Color is similar to ambient light in Layout, except that it applies only to the selected HyperVoxel object. Basically, the shading process is very similar to what happens with regular object surfaces. Because of the way illumination is calculated inside volumetrics objects, Ambient Intensity can be higher than 100% without overexposing the image.

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Shading Tab: Sprite Mode

The options on the Sprite Mode Basic Subtab are similar to the options available for the Volume mode. This makes sense since the Sprite mode is just a slice of a Volume mode HyperVoxel.

With the Number of Slices setting, you can thicken up the effect by increasing the number of slices used for sprites from the default setting of 1. This allows you to get something a little closer to the Volume Mode while still retaining the speed of the Sprite Mode.

Density on sprites is a multiplier for both Opacity and Luminosity. It is essentially the opposite of Dissolve.

Left: 1-Slice, Right: 3-Slice

You may choose to light the Sprite using all lights in your scene or up to two specic lights. On the Clips Subtab, you can map an image directly onto a sprite using the Add Clip button.

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LightWave 9 - Layout Some options on the Alpha pop-up menu let you cut away parts of the image you dont want to use. If the image le includes an alpha channel, choose Embedded to use the alpha channel. Use Luminosity to leave brighter parts of the image. The Black mode will cut away black areas. The Threshold level lets you increase the range for what is considered black. The Rotation setting sets a rotation speed for your clips. This is perfect for effects like billowing smoke and explosions. The higher the setting, the faster the rotation. Positive values make the clip rotate clockwise. Rotation always faces the camera. If you do not want to use the color information in the image, uncheck Use Color. Then, only the greyscale information will be used. Antialiasing will yield better-looking edges, but it signicantly increases render time and memory requirements. When Solid is checked, the sprite is rendered as a solid object, preventing the normal additive result of overlapping sprites.

Any image available to the scene may be selected. Use the Image Editor to load an image not already available.

Sprite Clip Frame Offset

Clips are added to the HyperTexture. If you want to see only the clip, set the Texture option to (none) on the HyperTexture Tab. If you use HyperVoxels with particles, you can use multiple clips. The Frame Offset setting determines how you want to map an image sequence to a given particle. Particle Age starts the sequence for a particle at birth. Thus, the image will likely be different for particles at a given frame. Uniform will use the layout time as the time in the sequence. Thus, the image used is the same at each frame. When the bottom of the list is reached, it starts again from the top. Random will assign a random offset to each particle. Frame Offset is an important control for sprite animations. It allows you to decide how to attach images to particles. Particle Age is probably the most useful. You can have literally hundreds of particles, each mapped with distinct image sequences. For example, you could have particles

Chapter 21:Environments with independent water-splash image sequences, creating a complex and rich visual effect.

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HyperTexture Tab
The Texture pop-up menu determines what the texture will look like. The textures in this menu correspond to the identically named procedural textures, although not all of them will be available here.

In the Texture Effect pop-up menu you have several options. Turbulence makes the texture move towards the viewer. It is like animating a texture with the texture velocity parameter. Billowing animates the texture by rotating outward along a velocity vector ( la Dantes Peak). It is very good for explosions. Displace adds variations to the texture. The effect is best seen when the texture is moving. Dissolve gradually lowers density, making particles disintegrate. Velocity Translate moves the texture in the direction of the particle velocity. Since each particle has a different velocity, this can result in a cool and complex texture motion. Dissolve & Expand might be used on explosions. It dissolves the effect as it expands. Some trial and error may be necessary to get the desired look.

The big difference is when you are using a Volume (Object Type) HyperVoxel. In this case, you can animate the texture effect.

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LightWave 9 - Layout The Particle Weight Input Parameter is used with regular objects that use HyperVoxels and requires them to have a Weight Map. The object must also have the HyperVoxels Particles Displacement plugin added. Set Particle Weight should be checked and the Weight Map selected.

The Effect Speed setting is the duration of the looping cycle. The value is equal to a percentage of Layouts Default units, on the General Options Tab of the Preferences Panel, per frame. NOTE: Animated textures can be previewed with VIPER.

Gradient Input Parameters

Special Input Parameters will be available for texture gradients on HyperVoxel parameters. Particle Age is simply the age of (Particle FX) particles, in frames. Particle Speed is the particle speed in default LightWave units (usually meters) per second. Use Time to change the setting over a range of frames.

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To use the Particle Weight Input Parameter:

Step 1: Create an object in Modeler.

Step 2: Create a Weight Map and add some random weighting to the points.

Step 3: Load the object into Layout. Step 4: Choose Window > Volumetrics and Fog Options. Step 5: Open the HyperVoxels Panel and activate the object. Step 6: Open the objects Properties Panel, add the HyperVoxels Particles Displacement plugin. Open its options, activate Set Particle Weight and choose the Weight Map.

Step 7: On the HyperVoxels Panel, add a texture to the Particle Size and set the Layer Type to Gradient. Choose Particle Weight as the Input Parameter. Create some keys.

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For HyperTexture and Shading settings, gradient textures can use a distance to particle (along a specic axis) input parameter. This is the surface distance from the actual particle position along the selected axis.

SkyTracer2 SkyTracer
The SkyTracer Environment was designed to create sophisticated atmospheric effects using real-world parameters. NOTE: This is a legacy tool replaced by SkyTracer2 and NewTek recommends that you only use this to read older LightWave scene les. SkyTracer2 offers all these features and is far more robust.

SkyTracer2
The SkyTracer2 Environment was designed to create sophisticated atmospheric effects using real-world parameters. You can adjust the Atmospheric, Cloud, and Sun settings within the interface to create a variety of beautifully rendered sky images. These skies can be rendered (volumetrically or as a 2D effect) within an existing scene, or saved as image les to be composited or used as Texture Maps.The SkyTracer2 Environment was designed to create sophisticated atmospheric effects using real-world parameters. You can adjust the Atmospheric, Cloud, and Sun settings within the interface to create a variety of beautifully rendered sky images. These skies can be rendered (volumetrically or as a 2D effect) within an existing scene, or saved as image les to be composited or used as texture maps.

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Several Presets
The interface is split into two sections: global controls are at the top of the panel and controls to adjust atmospheric effects are at the bottom of the panel.

SkyTracer2 simulates light scattering and light absorption in the atmosphere. The settings for this simulation are real-life parameters such as atmosphere thickness, cloud altitude, sun position and so on. Because SkyTracer2 uses volumetric lighting techniques, you can even get spectacular effects like the sun casting light rays through the clouds. You can adjust both the current Time and Location settings to accurately simulate the sun rising or setting, anywhere in this world or another. The SkyBaker button brings up the SkyBaker Panel.

Default SkyTracer2 settings

The Dissolve setting adjusts the transparency of the SkyTracer2 effect and the Planet Radius adjusts the size of the planet, and thus the size of the atmosphere. The default value of 6.3Mm represents the size of the Earth.

The Atmosphere Panel

Think of the sky as a stack of two layers, Atmosphere and Haze. These layers have identical controls, but each can

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have different values for scattering, absorption, and density distribution. Quality is the level of sampling performed along the cameras viewing direction. Higher Quality levels give more accurate renders, however, this setting also affects rendering times. Therefore, the High setting should be reserved for very precise effects. The Thickness setting controls the thickness of the atmosphere and haze layers. Thickness is measured in kilometers and meters respectively, with 100km and 1000m as default values.

Thickness 50%

The Luminosity parameter adjusts the percentage of light that scatters within the layer. This scattering intensity is greatest in front of the sun and lower elsewhere.

Thickness 100%

Luminosity 100%

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Luminosity 0%

Opacity 200%

Opacity measures the percentage of light absorbed within the layer. High values attenuate light, and objects disappear at the horizon. When you use opacity with haze, you can create pollution-like effects. However when you adjust the opacity within the Atmosphere Panel, you can create strange, out-of-this world skies.

Fall Off modies how density is distributed throughout the layer. Values higher than 100% decrease density rapidly with altitude, while a value of 0% has no decrease at all. Negative values in the Haze Falloff setting will invert the density distribution.

The Clouds Panel

No sky would be complete without some clouds! By controlling the clouds altitude, density, luminosity, opacity, and contrast parameters, SkyTracer2 can create an incredible range of cloud effects. The two layers in SkyTracer2, low and high-altitude clouds, have identical parameters; you can enable these layers separately for drastically different effects or together for complex sky patterns.

Opacity 50%

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LightWave 9 - Layout The Density setting controls how dense the cloud layer is. Think of this setting as adjusting the probability of rainfall for the area. A Density value of 10% means that the clouds are fairly devoid of water. This gives a much thinner cloud layer, which allows more light to travel through it. A value of 75% has a much thicker appearance, and shows a higher probability of rain.

Density 20%

Use the Enable Clouds switch to turn the two cloud layers on or off. The Texture button opens the Texture Editor Panel, which is where you specify the type of cloud to render and adjust its coverage parameters. (see below) Altitude sets the height in the sky where the cloud layer will start.
Density 200%

Chapter 21:Environments Luminosity controls the scattering intensity of light through the clouds. With high values, you create bright clouds. The light scattered from the cloud is attenuated by the Atmospheric and Haze settings.

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Opacity 10%

Luminosity 10%

Opacity 50% Luminosity 100%

Opacity controls how much light is allowed through the layer. A setting of 100% renders a completely dark sky, while a value of 0% renders a much brighter sky.

The Contrast setting affects the coverage of the cloud layer. A value of 10% gives a constant sheet of clouds, with little variation within the layer. While the default value of 200% shows subtle variation within the cloud, it also reduces the clouds coverage.

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Contrast 100%

Activated

Contrast 200%

Enable the Volumetric Rendering option to specify how SkyTracer2 will render the layer. When Volumetric Rendering is enabled, SkyTracer2 renders the clouds as a volume that has both density and mass. When Volumetric Rendering is disabled, SkyTracer2 renders the layer like an image projected on a piece of geometry in the sky. Disabling this effect will greatly reduce rendering time, but it will also generate a less convincing cloud layer.

Deactivated

Textured Shadows activates the cloud layers selfshadowing option, which generates more accurate shadows within the layer, but increases rendering times. Textured Shadows is similar to HyperVoxels self-shadowing feature.

Chapter 21:Environments Like in reality, you can get an under-lit effect when the sun is very low on the horizon. In this case, the clouds are lit from beneath, creating spectacular red lighting effects. The effect is best accomplished by using volumetric clouds with textured shadows. layer.

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The Small Scale and Big Scale values are two fractal scale parameters for the appearance of the clouds. Lacunarity sets the turbulence within the cloud layer. A value of 1 renders the clouds nice and smooth, while a value of 5 or higher breaks up and distorts the cloud to give it a much more natural appearance. The Octaves setting controls the amount of frequencies or detail your fractal receives. The higher the value, the more frequencies are used when rendering. This will create more details within the cloud, but it also causes longer rendering times. Cloud Type lets you select from cloud styles. Cumulus clouds are big and puffy low-altitude clouds; Cirrus clouds are long and thin and are generally found at higher altitudes. You can even simulate the streaming effect that jets create when ying at high altitudes by selecting the Jet Trails Cloud Type. SkyTracer2 applies textures to an imaginary cloud layer that is parallel to the XZ plane. Therefore when you apply textures with a planar projection, you should use the Y axis. You can create realistic cloud effects like attenuating the clouds in the distance using X and Z Falloff, or create pyramid-shaped clouds (as in Cumulus) by using a texture Falloff on the Y axis. NOTE: The SkyTracer2 default texture has a Falloff setting already applied. Instead of using a procedural approach, you can specify the clouds exact coverage by loading a fractal-like image on the Y axis. To get a convincing effect, you should use a smoothly repeating texture.

The Texture Editor Panel

SkyTracer2 uses a texture dened in LightWaves Texture Editor to control the style, coverage, and placement of the cloud layers. Although you can use a Procedural, Image, or Gradient texture layer, the most common texture used will be the STClouds procedural texture. This procedural texture is specically designed to work with SkyTracer2 and contains many of the settings needed to create realistic clouds. Use the procedural preview window in Texture Editor to quickly see results when you adjust settings for cloud style and coverage. Simply adjust one of the procedurals settings and watch how it affects the computed fractal.

The Texture Value controls the strength of the cloud layer. The higher the percentage, the more cloud coverage in this

Use a gradient in any layer to modify the previous layers effect. The gradient Input Parameters are Heading (ray heading angle), Pitch (ray pitch angle), and Height. The

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LightWave 9 - Layout You can select which light(s) SkyTracer2 uses to calculate the appearance of the clouds in the Sun1 and Sun2 Light drop down list. The Type lets you choose to render the light as a sun or a moon. You can change the appearance of the sun or moon by adjusting the ares Size, Flare Intensity, Flare Boost, Streaks, and Color Shift values.

height is the height inside the cloud layer. NOTE: That is 0 in the bottom and 1 at the top.

The Suns Panel

SkyTracer2 uses one or two lights to render the clouds and atmospheric effects. You can use either your own lights or the SKT_Sun lights added by SkyTracer2. An added bonus: you can also set up these lights to render as either a sun or a moon are. NOTE: By default only one Sun light is added.

Sun Position
By pressing the Sun Position button, you access the Sun Spot Motion Modier. You adjust the suns position by specifying the exact day and time for the light to be positioned.

Although you may never see it, the position of the SKT_Sun light rotates properly as time passes. To increase the speed of the animating sun, edit the Time Lapse eld. To complete the time lapse effect, animate the clouds texture parameters.

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The Sky Baker Panel

Once you create your sky, you can either render it on every frame along with your scene or Sky Baker can generate image les to map it onto geometry and fake the effect. Several reasons are listed below for why you would want to bake a sky: 1. You can see your sky in real-time using OpenGL. 2. The sky is saved as an image, so you can edit it with the Image Editor controls (e.g., hue, saturation, gamma, etc.). 3. The solution is already gured out, so the sky renders extremely fast.

Skygen
SkyGen (Utilities> Plugins: Additional> Skygen) is a set of pre-made procedural texture environments. From realistic to cartoon the sky samples cover daytime, evening and night. Complete with procedural clouds and the ability to animate each parameter. SkyGen scripts will also add all necessary control objects and images.

The Sky Baker Panel lets you select the resolution of the images, their image type, mapping projection style and a le prex name. The Antialiasing option activates and deactivates the Antialiasing pass when rendering the images. NOTE: The spherical projection has the advantage of being more compact and not distorted when compared to the cubic

The initial Skygen Panel gives you the option to toggle on the Presets Panel as well as VIPER. Also, you can add a reference null to be used in animating the clouds. Do this by selecting Add Reference Null on the panel.

projection.

By pressing the OK button Sky Baker will start to render all images. A progress bar shows you how much Sky Baker has completed. Once Sky Baker completes the job, you can choose to generate, position, and map the geometry needed to complete the effect.

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Use the Add Skygen Sun and Moon options to add a Sun and Moon to your sky environment. Once you click OK, if these options are selected you will be given options for each for the default orientation.

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Pixie Dust
Pixie Dust is a Volumetric Sprite Particle Renderer that is in most cases faster than HyperVoxels while rendering loads of particles,. This does however doesnt replace HyperVoxels as there is no lightmodel within the particle renderer, which means Pixie Dust uses ambient light and does not take information from other lights in the scene..

Adds the current conguration of Pixie Dust to the Preset Shelf. Use particles from item: All: Uses all particle systems in the scene Item: Uses particles within an item plus items parented to it Particle size: Numerical, envelope and texture control Particle Opacity: Fuzzy: Controls the opacity with a nonlinear gradient from the center to the edge with Numerical, envelope and texture control. Custom: Controls the opacity with Numerical, envelope and texture control Particle Color: From Particle: Get color from the particles themselves(if available, Custom:Control the color with Numerical, envelope and texture control

Gradients:
Standard Gradients: Distance to Camera Distance to Object Particle Age Relative Age Time Previous Layer Pixie Dust Specic Gradients: Particle Birth Time:The time at which the particle was created Relative Particle Birth Time: The particle birth time as a fraction of the current time. Ray to Particle Distance: How far the ray passed from the particle center. Relative Ray to Particle Distance:Same as above but normalized so that 0 is through the center and 1 is just

Controls:

Open Preset Shelf:

Opens the Preset Shelf panel, which allows the use of saved Pixie Dust presets.

Add Preset:

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touching the edge of the particle. Grid Size: Speeds up rendering by putting the particles on a grid, and then searching the grid for particles that intersect a given ray. There is a per case tradeoff depending on size, amount of particles, density and opacity, having a ne grid (lots of grid squares) means fewer per-particle tests need to be done, but more grid squares have to be tested. Fixed Spacing: Set each grid square to the given size with Numerical or Envelope. Fixed Resolution: Set the grid resolution directly(n by n grid squares) with Numerical or Envelope. Spacing per Particle Size: Sets the size of each grid square as the given multiple of the particle size with Numerical or Envelope.

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Chapter 22: Customizing Layout

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LightWave 9 NOTE: The Undo/Redo functions can also be found in the lower left corner of Layouts interface.

Customizing Layout
Edit Drop Down Menu View Tab Customize Color

Edit Drop Down Menu

Undo
(default keyboard shortcut Ctrl Z )

Edit Menu Layout

(default keyboard shortcut Ctrl F10 )

The undo function (Edit> Undo) will undo motion changes (Move, Rotate, Size, or Stretch tools). HINT: If you are not using the Auto Key feature, you can quickly reset all aspects of a frame (i.e., position, rotation, etc.) if you havent created the key yet. Just press the Right cursor key and then the Left cursor key. This advances the current frame and then goes back to the original frame. The frame will return to the last keyframed state, or if the frame is not a keyframe, to its in-between state. The number of undos is determined by the Undo Levels setting found in the General Options Panel.

WARNING: We strongly suggest that you keep the default menu organisation intact. Otherwise, technical support and using the documentation may become difcult. A better solution is to create a new menu tab and/or groups and place your frequently used tools in them. LightWave menus are customisable. You can add, remove, group, and reorganize commands. Choose Edit> Edit Menu Layout to open the Congure Menus Panel.

Redo (default keyboard shortcut Z)

The Redo function (Edit> Redo) will redo motion changes (Move, Rotate, Size, or Stretch tools) that were previously undone. The combination of Undo and Redo is a powerful one, allowing you to step backward and forward through the evolution of a motion.

Chapter 22:Customizing Layout In the (left) Command window, a list of available commands will appear. These will be grouped by type. In the (right) Menus window, several main sections have sub-items, which are indented to show the hierarchical relationships. Top Group contains the items that are always visible no matter which tab is selected. Main Menu items are the main tabs and related buttons for the main interface toolbar. Left, Middle, and Right Mouse Button Menu (when available) are the menus that appear when the Shift + Ctrl keys are held down along with the corresponding mouse button. There may be other menu sections dened. In the Menus window, dots indicate commands while arrows indicate groups of commands/sub-groups beneath it. If the arrow points to the right, the groups sub-menu items are collapsed and not visible. To reveal the sub-menu items for a collapsed group, simply click on its right-facing arrow. To collapse an open group, click on its downward-facing arrow.

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Edit Keyboard Shortcuts

(default keyboard shortcut Ctrl F9 )

WARNING: We strongly suggest that you keep the default keyboard mapping assignments and make new assignments only to unmapped keys. (Most of the function keys are open.) Otherwise, technical support and using the documentation may become difcult. Like the menus, keyboard shortcuts can be congured to suit your own needs. To display the Congure Keys Panel, choose Edit> Edit Keyboard Shortcuts.

Finding Assignments and Commands

If you have a command selected in the left window and click Find, the command, if any, on the right will become selected. Selecting a command in the right window and clicking Find will select the matching command in the left window. Clicking Search allows you to type in a search phrase to nd a command. Search is case-sensitive. This will nd the rst instance when rst run, and can be used iteratively to nd additional instances by just hitting the button again, as it retains the string until you type in a new one. The window on the left contains a complete list of all assignable commands grouped by type. The right window shows a complete list of all keystrokes and assigned commands, if applicable.

Maintaining Menu Layouts

The Load and Save buttons let you retrieve and store menu layouts that you develop. Any available preset menu layouts can be chosen from the Presets pop-up menu. The Window pop-up menu lets you select different menus to edit (e.g., Graph Editor), if available.

To assign a command to key:

Select a command in the left window. Select the target key in the right window. (You can hit the desired key or keystroke combo to quickly select the key.) Click the Assign button. This will overwrite any existing assignment. Alternatively, you may drag the command to the right window.

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LightWave 9 Image Editor. The recorded data is saved to a cong le (cfg) that can later be called up. This is a very handy tool for users who like to arrange their windows and panels in the same place every time.

To unassign a command to key:

Select the target key in the right window. Click the Unassign button.

Finding Assignments and Commands

If you have a command selected in the left window and click Find, the command, if any, on the right will become selected. Selecting a command in the right window and clicking Find will select the matching command in the left window. Clicking Search allows you to type in a search phrase to nd a command. Search is case-sensitive. This will nd the rst instance when rst run, and can be used iteratively to nd additional instances by just hitting the button again, as it retains the string until you type in a new one. NOTE: Keyboard shortcuts can be assigned to only one command. Assigning a command that is already assigned to a different key will assign it to the new key, but remove it from the old one.

Window Cong Loader

This command is a quick way to launch a window conguration that was generated by the Window Congure tool.

Maintaining Key Mapping Sets

The Load and Save buttons let you retrieve and store key mapping sets that you develop. The Clear button clears out all assignments, so use with caution. Any available preset key mapping sets can be chosen from the Presets pop-up menu. The Window pop-up menu lets you select different menus to edit (e.g., Graph Editor), if available.

Window Cong
The Window Congure tool (Edit>Window Cong) will record the placement and visibility of the main Layout window, Scene Editor, Graph Editor, Surface Editor, and

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Layout General Options

(default keyboard shortcut O )

directory; LightWave expects to nd all of the appropriate subdirectories within this master directory. The Content Directory allows you to create a truly portable LightWave scene, including all object and image les. It essentially acts as a pseudo root directory. By saving all your object and image les in subdirectories below the Content Directory, your LightWave scene and related les can be moved from drive to drive, from system to system, and even platform to platform, and still load properly. Portability is important because LightWave scenes are often rendered on multiple machines or shared for education or fun. WARNING: If you use LightWave in a network environment, it is imperative that you use the Content Directory correctly.

Choose Edit > General Options to bring up the General Options Tab on the Preferences Panel.

Relative Links
When you save a scene, LightWave tries to save only a relative link to image and object les. So an object stored on your hard drive as C:\ MyProjects\ StretchPrincess\ Objects\ Jo.lwo where the Content Directory was C:\ MyProjects\ StretchPrincess, would be saved in the scene le as only Objects\ StretchPrincess.lwo. If you use objects or images outside of the Content Directory, those links are hard-coded (e.g., F:\ Stretch\ Princess\ Jo.lwo). If you never move the scene and support les to another computer, the scene will load ne, but this isnt the way you should do it.

Content Directory
LightWave defaults to looking in certain directories under the Content Directory when you load scenes, objects, surfaces, images, envelopes, motions, previews, etc. This is usually the directory you installed the LightWave software into. The Content Directory is LightWaves master

NOTE: If you load a scene where an object/ image le cannot be found, a le dialog will appear, letting you manually locate the le.

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LightWave 9 each of the MyProjects subdirectories and store your les accordingly.

Object File Links

Like scenes, objects can also have linked les. These are usually Image Maps used for surface textures. The Content Directory concept is also relevant here. Using image les below the Content Directory will avoid loading problems. If you make any changes to object surfaces, you must save the object le a step separate from saving a scene.

Production Data Files

Subdirectories other than Images, Objects, and Scenes (e.g., Surfaces, Motions, etc.) are generally important only during the production stage. The information from these les is incorporated in the scene or object les and is not tracked independently. For example, when you apply that cromulent silver surface le to your spaceships skin, the settings are saved in the object le. The surface is not referred to again, unless you use it again. NOTE: The generic plugin Content Manager, discussed later in this section, can be used to collect a scenes supporting les and ensure correct compliance with your content directory.

To set the Content Directory:

Open the General Options Tab of the Preferences Panel (Edit > General Options) and click the Content Directory button. A le browser will open and you can navigate to and select the folder you wish to use as your Content Directory. You can also choose Set Content Directory from the Edit button, or choose from among the Content Directories that youve used lately by using Edit > Recent Content Directories, or by using the keyboard shortcut Alt + F12. You can also change it in Modeler, on the General Options Panel. (If the Hub is active, Layout and Modeler will sync any changes to this setting.)

Clear Scene to Default

Ways to Use the Content Directory

Here are a few ways you might utilise the Content Directory feature: Use a separate directory as the Content Directory for every project. Youll need to create subdirectories for Objects, Images, and Scenes beneath it. All les relevant to the project would be stored here. As you change from project to project, you must also change your Content Directory. (Note that your project could contain a multitude of scenes.) Create subdirectories called MyProjects in the Objects, Images, and Scenes subdirectories that are created when you installed LightWave. (e.g., C:\ Lightwave\ Objects\ MyProjects, C:\ Lightwave\ Images\ MyProjects, etc.). Then, for each project, create identically named subdirectories in

When this option is enabled, if a default scene exists in the current contentpath, it will be loaded into Layout whenever the user successfully performs a Clear Scene. Note: Layout now recognizes a default.lws scene. If you save a scene named default. lws in the root of your Content Directory, each time you open Layout it will open this scene.

Input Device
The Input Device pop-up menu lets you select either a Mouse or Tablet as the primary input device. When you

Chapter 22:Customizing Layout choose the input device, the default system drivers for the appropriate device are used.

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features, such as a wavelength and temperature-guided layout of color.

File Dialog and Color Picker Selection

The File Dialog and Color Picker pop-up menus let you use custom LightWave dialogs for le loading/saving and picking colors. Selecting Default will use your standard system dialogs.

Color Format
The Color Format setting determines the scale used where the color selector appears next to the color swatch in Panels and Dialogs. Integer uses values 000 to 255, Float uses .00 to 1.00, and Percentage uses 0% to 100%.

The Visual Browser

You can make the LightWave visual browser the default le dialog for Layout by choosing VB File Requester on the File Dialog pop-up menu. This appears on the Interface Tab of Modelers Display Options Panel (Edit > Display Options).

Automatically Creating Keyframes

The Auto Key button on the lower part of the main interface turns the overall auto key mode on or off. When active, existing keys are automatically adjusted if an item is modied.

LW_ColrPikr
The custom Color dialog provides many additional features not available with the standard system dialogs. The LW_ColrPikr color picker is a color selector with more

The pop-up menu on the General Options Tab has three settings: Off Off will modify only the settings of an existing keyframe for the current item. All Modied Channels All Modied Channels creates a

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keyframe, but for only the modied motion channel group (e.g., XYZ or HPB). So, for example, if you change only an items heading, a key is created only for the current items heading, pitch, and bank at the current frame. All Motion Channels All Motion Channels creates a keyframe for all motion channels. This feature can be a nice time-saver when compositing still images or initial keyframes, but can be a detriment when changing a feature like a position, as a test to see if you like it.

Frame

SMPTE

Film Key Code

Parent in Place
When Parent in Place is active, an item will maintain a constant position, size, and orientation when it is parented or unparented.

Time in Seconds

Frames Per Second

The Frames Per Second rate is specic to the calculation of texture velocities and other internal information that can be accessed by LightWaves plugin architecture. If you had based a moving texture velocity so that it appeared to repeat every 25 frames, but your output was going to lm (at the lm rate of 24 frames per second), you would want to set this value to 24 so that the repeating nature of the pattern repeated properly. Change this frame rate if you are working on lm or another medium that has a frame rate different than video (25 fps).

Left Mouse Button Item Select

When Left Mouse Button Item Select is active, you may click on an item with the LMB to select it in a viewport. (Those of you with three-button mouses can always use the MMB.)

Frame Slider Label

The Frame Slider Label pop-up menu lets you choose a type of measurement on the frame slider, which is the rulerlike control on the main interface.

Frame 0 Time Code

Enter a starting SMPTE time code for frame 0 in this input eld if it is other than 00:00:00:00. This can be important, even if you are not using SMPTE Time Code as your Frame Slider Label, but are using it in the Data Overlay setting on the Render Options Panel (Render > Render Options).

Frames Per Foot

You can select between Frame Number (the default), SMPTE Time Code (HH:MM:SS:FF, where HH is hours, MM is minutes, SS is seconds and FF is frames), Film Key When using Film Key Code, you can specify the Frames Per Foot.

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Fractional Frames
When Fractional Frames (formerly Allow Fractional Frames) is turned on, the frame slider can be placed at noninteger frame values, either by adjusting the frame slider, jumping to the previous or next key, or typing into the Go to Frame requester. NOTE: Changing this value does not move keyframes. Keyframes are located based on time rather than frames so theyre always allowed to lie on fractional frames. If you want to move fractional keyframes to integral frame values, use the Snap Keys function in the DopeTrack.

SI SI is the International System of Units. (SI is the abbreviation of the French Le Systme International dUnits.) Unit measurements in Layout will now use a base system of meters. Grid sizes and distances can be measured in megameters, kilometers, meters, millimeters, micrometers, and nanometers. Metric Metric is the same as SI with the addition of centimeters. English The English system refers to measurements in miles, feet, and inches. NOTE: We strongly suggest that you use SI or Metric since that measurement type is generally assumed for exercises and

Show Keys in Slider

When Show Keys in Slider is active, a line will appear in the slider where a keyframe exists for the selected item(s).

tutorials.

Play at Exact Rate

Play at Exact Rate causes forward and reverse playing of the scene to ignore the frame step and instead play in realtime, waiting or skipping frames as needed. It has no effect on preview animation playback.

Setting the Default Unit

If a unit is not specied in an input eld, the default is used. You can select the default unit using the Default Unit popup menu. WARNING: We strongly suggest that you use the SI or Metric Unit System and meters as the default unit. Use other settings only for special situations. Both systems are based on 10, which will make your Modeling and animation life easier. The Default Unit of meters is assumed for exercises.

Measurement Unit System

LightWave supports several units of measurement. You can choose to work in different notations; however, you may input a value using a unit of measurement other than the default, and it will be converted on the y. For example, you may be using meters, but if you type in 5 ft LightWave converts it to 1.524 m. (Metric is basically the same as SI except that it also uses centimeters.) The Unit System setting determines what units of measurement Layout uses and displays.

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Undo Levels
The number of available undos is determined by the Undo Levels setting found in the General Options Panel. You can set a specic number of levels by typing in a number in the Undo Levels entry eld, or you can click to activate the Unlimited Undos option.

Layout Display Options

(default keyboard shortcut D )

The Display Options Tab on the Preferences Panel (Edit> Display Options) controls the settings for display options that are global in nature.

FSPE
A toggle has been added for FSPE (Full Scene Parameter Evaluation), which was previously a hidden feature. You can nd it in the General Options panel in Layout. FSPE is a legacy plugin which was intended to take IK data into motion plugins. Warning: It is recommended to keep FSPE disabled. A continuous loop can be added if a child object is dependent on the motion of the parent object.

Note: FSPE and Fixed Near Clip Distance are set back to the default settings upon Clear Scene or New Scene.

Chapter 22:Customizing Layout NOTE: The display always uses OpenGL; it is not an option. Also, many of the display options are approximations and your actual rendered results may be different.

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Click the Save as Default button to use the selected Viewport Layout for future sessions. Otherwise, it will affect only the current session.

Viewport Layouts
You can display more than one viewport by changing the Viewport Layout pop-up menu. All of the normal viewport options can be set independently and all viewports will update simultaneously.

You can customise the relative sizes of multiple viewports by dragging the borders between them.

Alert Level
The Alert Level setting controls how error, warning and informational messages are displayed. When set to Beginner, these messages are displayed as dialog boxes, which you need to manually dismiss. The Intermediate level moves warning and information messages to an information line near the bottom of the interface and Expert moves all messages.

Layout Information Line

Toolbar
The Left or Right settings determine on which side of the interface the Toolbar appears. (If you are left-handed, select Right.) If you are a keyboard shortcut expert, you can activate the Hide Toolbar option, which makes the Toolbar and Tabs invisible.

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LightWave 9 NOTE: To redisplay the toolbar, press the letter (O) key to bring up the General Options Tab of the Preferences Panel. NOTE: The near clipping distance only affects your OpenGL display and has no impact on your rendered images. There is also a far clipping distance that is always set to 10,000 times the near clipping distance. Normally you never see its effects unless you zoom out extremely far or have very distant objects, like stars.

Grid Settings
Use the Grid Type pop-up menu to set the size of the overall grid or turn it off. Adjust the Grid Square Size to change the size of each square. The Grid Antialiasing option will smooth out jaggies when active.

Dynamic Update
The Dynamic Update pop-up menu affects how the Layout window is updated with respect to changes on various panels. Interactive will continuously update the Layout window while changes are made. Delayed will update the Layout window when you release the mouse button. Off will update the window only when you close the panel.

Fixed Near Clip Distance

The near clipping distance is the point at which surfaces disappear in your OpenGL display. Normally, the distance to the near clipping plane is set automatically to one-tenth of the grid size, multiplied by the camera zoom factor. You may change the base value by activating the Fixed Near Clip Distance option and entering a value in the input eld. If near clipping becomes a problem for you, you may nd it easier to just adjust the grid size using the [ and ] keyboard shortcuts. Which setting you use will depend on many factors, like your processor speed, available processing resources, scene complexity, and so on. You may want to try Interactive and then back off to a lower setting, if updates become too sluggish.

Bounding Box Threshold

This value is an absolute limit for the number of points or polygons an object must have for it to automatically change to a bounding box during editing (move, rotate, size, etc.). For example, if the value is set to 5000, any object that has fewer than 5000 points or polygons will remain in solid or wireframe mode even as the object is manipulated. This can result in jerky movements depending on the speed of your computer and the quality of the video card. Any object with more points or polygons than the limit will automatically switch to bounding box mode so that the object can be manipulated smoothly. You should experiment and nd a level that your computer can display at a decent rate and then leave that as your default.

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Camera View Tab

Camera View Background

LightWave lets you choose how you want the Layout interface background to appear when using the Camera view (only). Blank is the default choice and will show nothing but the normal blank grey background. Backdrop Color uses the color selected as the Backdrop Color on the Backdrop Tab of the Effects Panel (Scene > Effects: Backdrop). NOTE: This setting is independent of how the background will appear in a rendered image. That is, if the Backdrop Color is orange and there is a Background Image set, the viewport background will still appear orange if this option is set to Backdrop Color. Background Image lets you see the image set as the Background Image on the Compositing Tab of the Effects Panel ( Window> Compositing Options) in the Camera view. You can use it to help you align objects that need to be positioned properly with respect to the background image. It will also show when you make preview animations using the Camera view.

LightWave also allows you to use a preview animation as a background, if you use the Preview option. This requires you to have a preview animation loaded into memory of course. This can be one that was just generated or one that was loaded. The preview animation will load starting at the upper-left corner of the Layout window. Make sure to use the same size interface as you did when you generated the preview for easy reference. It will also load beginning at frame 0 no matter what the frame was originally when the animation was created. This feature is invaluable for creating moving composite shots and mattes. Using an image sequence composed of live footage as the background image, create a preview animation of that sequence with no objects or grid. Save the preview and load it in later when you need it. The preview animation will update much faster than using the original images as a background.

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Show Safe Areas

If your animation will be viewed on a television, be aware that viewers will not see the entire image. Select Show Safe Areas to toggle outlines in a Camera view that indicate the safe text (the inner border) and safe action areas (the outer border) for television. To allow for the display differences of different brands and designs of television sets, you should use this guide to ensure that text and action elements in your animations remain on screen when it is important that they be seen.

OpenGL Fog
If you have the OpenGL Fog option active, you can see an approximation of your Fog settings from the Camera View as well.

Show Field Chart

The Show Field Chart option turns on a crosshair chart similar to a 12-eld chart as used in the lm industry. It divides the camera view into quadrants, with each quadrant having 12 segments.

NOTE: These are reference guidelines and are not absolute positions.

Alternate Aspect Overlay

The Alternate Aspect Overlay setting lets you overlay the borders of an alternate frame aspect ratio, within the normal frame in camera viewports. This information-only display mode can be used to simultaneously compose shots for both lm and television, for example. The default alternate aspect ratio is 1.85.

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OpenGL Lens Flares

The OpenGL Lens Flares option lets you see lens ares right in a viewport while you use the Camera view. If you have the Lens Flares Options Panel open you can interactively make changes to the settings.

Also, choose between Vertical or Horizontal from the Link Direction toggle.

If the Show Goal Links option is active, item links to goals are shown in dotted lines. If the Drag Descendants option is active, moving a parent will move all its children as well. If the Show Plugin Links option is active, motion dependencies from motion and channel modier plugins are shown as dotted black lines.

Schematic View Tabs

Several display options for the Schematic view appear on the Schematic View Tab.

Choose between Straight or Right Angle from the Link Style toggle.

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LightWave 9 Just as the backdrop gradient sphere is centerd about the camera, so is fog.

OpenGL Options
Display Characteristic Settings

The Show Motion Paths option toggles the visibility of the motion path and keyframes for the current active item in Layout. A motion path looks like a line with small white (+) symbols at each keyframe. Motion paths are subdivided into smaller segments corresponding to the number of frames between keyframes. With Show Motion Paths active for an object that is stationary during an animation, the graph will display a single keyframe symbol only, indicating that this is its only keyframe position. It has a stationary motion path.

If you activate fog and the Show Fog Circles option, but do not see the indicator, check for the following factors: Verify that Fog Type on the Volumetrics Tab of the Effects Panel is not set to Off. Verify that you are using an orthogonal view. Verify that you should be able to see the fog circles. Are you too close or too far from the camera for the circles to be visible? Use the grid as a guide. Also, is the Overlay color too similar to the object color? Try changing to a different display mode, or try changing the Overlay color (discussed below).

Motion Path for the Right Hand Bone

When you want to see the extent of your fogs Max Distance and Min Distance on the Volumetrics Tab of the Effects Panel (Scene > Effects: Volumetrics), activate the Show Fog Circles option and use one of the orthogonal views. You will see circles representing the two fog radiuses, a result of the minimum and maximum fog values.

Chapter 22:Customizing Layout When using SubPatch objects, you may want to see the SubPatch cage. Activate Show SubPatchCages, if this is the case.

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The Show Target Lines option turns on/off the line that connects to targetted items. The Show Handles option will display reference handles for the current item when you are moving, rotating, or stretching. These are based on the items local axes at its pivot point.

Overlay Color
The color of the overlays for the eld chart, limited region, fog circles, and so on, can be set to any of the standard wireframe colors using the Overlay Color pop-up menu.

Shaded Display Options

The following options affect the shaded OpenGL display characteristics.

The Show IK Chains option will display a solid line for the IK chain and a dotted line for the direction of the item reaching for the goal object.

In the Max OpenGL Lights eld, enter the maximum number, up to eight, of light sources you want used in the display. This lets you see their effect right in the viewport in real-time.

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LightWave 9

Activate OpenGL Textures to show image-mapped textures (not procedural) in the viewports. Use the Texture Size pop-up menu to select the pixel resolution (e.g., 128 x 128). Lower settings will update faster and use fewer system resources.

OpenGL Textures On

Usually the rst Color or Diffuse image map layer is shown in the Texture Mode viewports. Enable Show Texture Editor Layer to show the Texture Editors current layer instead, if applicable. The OpenGL Pixel Blending option will activate a smoothing display function. The OpenGL Reections option lets you see the effects of image-mapped reections (not ray-traced) in a Layout window

OpenGL Textures Off

Chapter 22:Customizing Layout

525

also works if Mutitexturing is turned off. Please note however that due to the nature of this ltering method, low-resolution textures may appear a bit blurry.

OpenGL Multi- Texturing

De- /Activates Multi-texturing multiple textures layers per polygon in OpenGL. . NOTE: The Reection Mapping will be visible only when the surface Reection value is greater than 50 percent.

Depending on the settings that you activate (see below), the following combinations of texture layers are possible: A. Two color-layers with one diffuse-layer, one luminosity-layer and one reection map (5 textures/polygon). B. One color-layer with one transparency-layer and one reection map (3 textures/polygon). Currently the Multitexturing is made to work with graphicscards with at least two texture memory units.

The Faster Highlights option makes the display of (specular) highlights faster, but less accurate. Note that the difference may not always be visible and will vary depending on circumstances. The OpenGL Transparency option activates a surface transparency feature in viewports. This lets you see through transparent surfaces in shaded viewports. (Of course, this is only an approximation of your actual rendered result.) This setting also controls Modelers display of transparent surfaces, if the Hub is running. Modeler will remember the last used setting, if you arent using the Hub.

GLSL HW Shading
GLSL HW Shading (OpenGL Hardware Shading) is now among the selections in the Display Options panel. Support for the OpenGL 2.0 hardware shader technology in newer video cards has been added to Layout to provide very close approximations of render functions in the viewport displays. Light falloff, surface blending, gradients, and many procedurals can now be displayed in the OpenGL viewports in Layout when GLSL HW Shading is turned on.

OpenGL MipMap
Mipmapping is similar to what is used in todays games to avoid graininess of textures in a distance or at a at angle. Basically lower- res versions of the texture are generated in realtime and blended in. This feature is supported in hardware by most of todays graphics cards. This feature

526

LightWave 9 The Defaults Tab allows you to set default settings for a number of settings, including Scene Length, Frame settngs, Camera settings, and the maximum number of items allowed in a scene.

Color Channel
De- /Activates the display of textures in the Color Channel if Multi-texturing is on.

Diffuse Channel
De- /Activates the display of textures in the Diffuse Channel if Multi-texturing is on.

Paths

Transparency Channel
De- /Activates the display of textures in the Transparency Channel if Multi-texturing is on.

Luminosity Channel
De- /Activates the display of textures in the Luminosity Channel if Multi-texturing is on.

Defaults

Set Content Directory

(default keyboard shortcut Alt F12

This is a shortcut command used to quickly change Content Directories.

Chapter 22:Customizing Layout

527

Recent Content Directory

Choose Edit > Recent Content Directory, and select a content directory from the submenu.

The Tree View button will organize a hierarchy in a tree fashion. You must select the parent item before clicking the button. If Move Parent is active, the parent will be repositioned along with the children. If inactive, only the children are moved. The Skeleton View button will organize a hierarchy based on the positions of the items at frame 0, from the perspective set on the Projection pop-up menu. You must select the root item before clicking the button.

Auto-Detect
With Auto-Detect enabled, when you open a scene, Layout will attempt to automatically detect the paths for items in a scene.

Use custom paths

With custom paths enabled, you can specify a seperate path for each category.

Schematic View Tools

This tool helps you organize the scene items when using the Schematic View.

You can set the Grid Size by typing an entry in the eld or by using the sliders to the right of the entry eld. Snap Selection to Grid will snap the selected items to the specied Grid Size. Snap Hierarchy to Grid is similar, but only works on the hierarchy from the selected root item. Snap All Items to Grid snaps everything.

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LightWave 9

View Tab
Viewports
Fit All (default keyboard shortcut A)
Automatic pan and zoom in Layouts viewports can be achieved with the Fit All command ( View> Fit All). This will pan and zoom the viewport to t all the items in your scene. Use Fit Selected to pan and zoom the viewport to t the current item.

OpenGL Display Clipping

In some cases, if you zoom in too far, OpenGL will clip out points and polygonsessentially causing them to disappear. Unfortunately, this is a feature of OpenGL. (Actually, anything that is not in the exact center of the viewport gets clipped. If you center your viewport on an item, it continues to be visible). If you are still losing your objects from view, you can change the near clipping distance in the Display Options (default keyboard shortcut D). For more info, see the Display Options section of Chapter 4 - Edit Drop Down Menu.

Fit Selected (default keyboard shortcut

Shift A)

View Mode
You can choose between several different points of view (POV) for each viewport using the View Mode drop down menu ( View> View Mode). Manipulating items in virtual 3D space on a 2D display (i.e., your monitor) can be difcult at times, so you will switch between nearly all of these as you edit your scene.

Automatic pan and zoom in Layouts viewports can be achieved with the Fit Selected command ( View> Fit Selected). Fit Selected will pan and zoom the viewport to t the current item. To pan and zoom the viewport to t all the items in your scene use Fit All.

Zoom In and Zoom Out in Layout

Layout provides many ways to zoom in and out of your viewports. First, you can adjust viewport magnication by pressing the period key (.) to zoom in or the comma key (,) to zoom out. (These are shortcuts for View > Zoom In / Zoom Out.) Holding the Shift key while pressing either key (i.e., the > and < keys on a US keyboard) will double the zoom amount. These tools are located under the View Tab in Layout if you choose not to use the shortcut keys.

It is sometimes easier to work in just two dimensions at a time. The options with the axis notations (e.g., Top (XZ)) are the orthogonal views, which let you move items in only two dimensions (horizontally or vertically), along the XY, XZ, or ZY axes. The Perspective view gives you a threedimensional look at your scene.

Chapter 22:Customizing Layout Use the numeric keys as a shortcut to toggle between views. 1 Back 2 Top 3 Right 4 Perspective 5 Light (Current Light) 6 Camera (Current Camera) 7 Schematic NOTE: You can choose between several different points of view (POV) for each viewport using the View Type pop-up menu at each viewports top-left corner as well.

529

Click the Save Layout button ( View> Save Layout) to use the selected Viewport Layout for future sessions. Otherwise, it will affect only the current session. NOTE: These options can also be adjusted in the Display Options Panel (Edit> Display Options).

Layout Grid Tools

A grid of squares cleverly known as the grid is visible in any of the orthogonal views, as well as the Perspective view. The grid serves as a visual reference when you move items around, but it will never render in a nal image (no matter how much you wish it to). The grid lines are darker every tenth square for visual reference. The Origin is located at the center of the grid. The Grid Size ( View > Grid Size) determines the incremental change as you drag your mouse. Thus, a smaller size lets you edit your objects position with greater accuracy than using a larger one. If you nd that you cant edit an object with the accuracy required, try lowering the Grid Size. However, this will also affect the orthogonal and Perspective view modes.

View Layout (default keyboard shortcuts F3 and F4)

Layout options control the global arrangement of the viewports, the number of viewports and some other global Display settings. Use the Previous Layout ( View> Prev Layout) and Next Layout ( View> Next Layout) buttons to toggle through the various viewport layout presets.

Use the Increase Grid ( View> Increase Grid) and Decrease Grid ( View >Decrease Grid) buttons to adjust the grid size in small increments. When you start creating a new scene, your Grid Size will automatically adjust itself upwards only, if necessary. This can be problematic when you use objects that differ signicantly in relative size, like planets and spaceships. Objects may seem to disappear, when in reality they are just too small or too big to see in the viewport.

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LightWave 9

Once you manually set the Grid Size or save and reload a scene, the automatic sizing adjustment is deactivated. As such, you may want to load the smaller objects rst and then manually change the Grid Square Size to the same value. Then, load the larger objects. The size of lights and cameras (that is, how they appear in the viewport) are relative to the size of the grid squares. If you have very large grid squares, you will also have very large lights/camera compared to objects, and vice versa. NOTE: The size of the lights/cameras do not affect their functionality.

All Drop Down Menu

Select All Objects (default keyboard shortcut Ctrl objects in the current scene.
A)

Selects all

Select All Bones of Current Object Selects all bones in the current object. Select All Lights Selects all Lights in the current scene. Select All Cameras Selects all Cameras in the current scene. Search By Name Allows you to search for objects and lights by their name and add them to the selection.

Layout Selection Tools

Usually, you work on one item at a time, the current item, and you need to tell LightWave which item it is. But before you learn how to do that, you need to know that Layout items are grouped into four different types: objects, bones, lights, and cameras. When you work on any item, the Edit Mode buttons along the bottom (i.e., Objects, Bones, Lights or Cameras) are set to the current items type. There are several ways to select an item in Layout: 1. LMB or MMB click on the item in a viewport; NOTE: You can select items in a viewport by clicking on any polygon edge rather than just on a pivot point.. 2. Click on the items name in the Scene Editor Panel (Scene Editor); or 3. Manually select the Edit Mode and then select the item from the Current Item pop-up menu. Note that you cannot select a locked item (a little lock icon appears next to name). 4. Use the Item Picker 5. Use the Selection tools in the View Tab

Select Item By Name (default keyboard shortcut ) Selects an object based on what name is typed in the eld. This is handy for very complex scenes.

Order Drop Down Menu

Select Previous Item (default keyboard shortcut Cursor Up) Selects the next item up in the item list of the current edit mode. Select Next Item (default keyboard shortcut Cursor Down) Selects the next item down in the item list of the current edit mode. Select First Item (default keyboard shortcut Shift Cursor Up) Selects the rst item in the item list of the current edit mode.

Chapter 22:Customizing Layout Select Last Item (default keyboard shortcut Shift Cursor Down) Selects the last item in the item list of the current edit mode.

531

Customize Color
Click on Customize Color in the Hub Properties Window to open the Customize Color Panel.

Related Drop Down Menu

Parent Selects the item that the current item is parented to. Child Selects the rst child of the current item. Children Selects all the children of the current item. Hierarchy Selects the entire hierarchy of the current item. Select Previous Sibling (default keyboard shortcut Ctrl Cursor Up) Selects the next item at the same hierarchical level up in the list of the current object. Select Next Sibling (default keyboard shortcut Ctrl Cursor Down) Selects the next item at the same hierarchical level down in the list of the current object.

General Tab
You can customize the color of each button type here. The background color can also be adjusted. If you have an image you would like to use as the background, choose Background Splash, and the image will be applied to the background of the interface. You apply the same to all buttons if you choose Button Splash. Default Scheme will reset all options to the default LightWave settings.

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LightWave 9

Channels Tab

Here you can change the color of the XYZ handles for Motion, Rotation, and Scale for items in the viewports. GE Background will change the color of the Graph Editor background.

LightWave 9 Table of Contents

Index
A
Additive Expression 107 Add Displacement 205 Alert Level 517 Alternate Aspect Overlay 520

B
Backdrop, Layout 466 Environments 467 Gradient 466 Background Booster 468 Bezier Spline 105 BioVision Motion Capture Support 334 Bone Weight Map 298 Bones Bone 261 Bones On/Off 261 Bone Connect 273 Bone Edit Mode 260 Bone Fuse 274 Bone Rest Position 271 Bone Split 272 Child Bone 261 Clear All 297 Copy Hierarchy 274 Draw Bones 261 Draw Child Bones 262 Enable Deform 261 Falloff type 297 Faster Bones 298 From Object 296 Joint Compensation 299 Joint Comp for Parent 299 Limited Range 299

Morphed Positions 298 Multiply Strength 299 Muscle Flexing 299 Parental Muscle Flexing 299 Rest Length 298 Rest Position 298 Rest Rotation 298 Strength 299 Working With The Interface. See Skelegons Bone Properties Panel 296 Bounding Box Threshold 518 Bump Displacement 205

C
Camera 80 Mask 193 Camera Basics 18 Aperture Height 25 CameraSelector 19 Camera Settings in a Viewport 26 Depth of Field 30 Frame Aspect Ratio 26 limited region 27 Masking out a region 28 Memory 28 Motion Blur Effects 29 Multiple Cameras 18 Pixel Aspect Ratio 25 Resolution 23 Stereoscopic rendering 30 Camera View Background 519 Character Custom Offset Type 90, 372 Classic Scene Editor 163 Cloning Items 81 Color Format 513 Color Picker Selection. See Color Selection Connecting LScripts to Expressions 122 Content Directory 511, 526 Relative Links 511 Convert Skelegons. See Bones

II

LightWave 9

Coordinate System 343 Creating a Preview Animation 250 Curve Conform 220 Cyclist (item motion modier) 285, 353

Joystick Control 118 Expression Syntax 108

F
Filter Option Panel Channels Tab 142 Items Tab 141 Fixed Near Clip Distance 518 Frames Per Foot 514 Frames Per Second 514 Frame Rate Meter 194 Frame Slider Label 514 FX_Hardlink 220 Properties 221 FX_Link 283, 352 FX_MetaLink 222 FX_Motion 284, 352 FX Browser 402 FX Metalink Morph 222

D
Default Unit 515 Deform\ Bend 224 Pole 225 Shear 225 Taper 226 Twist 226 Vortex 227 Deform Displacement Plug-ins 224 Delete Bone 280 Parent Child Bones 281 Depth of Field Display 192 Depth of Field Preview 252 Displacement Maps 200 Displacement Texture 227 Display Options, Layout 523 Dual-handled Control Points 105 Dynamic Object 80 Dynamic Update 518

G
General options, Layout 343 Gimbal Lock 345 Global Options 358 Graph Editor 84 Adjusting the Curve Edit Window 90 Channels Pop-up 86 Channel Bin 86 Channel Bin Pop-up Menu 97 Collapse buttons 85 Curves Tab 99 Curve Edit Window Pop-up Menu 98 Curve Translation 89, 372 Editing Color Channels 99 Edit Mode 87 Expressions Tab 106 Frame Range 85

E
Effector 227 (item motion modier) 286, 354 Effector (Displacement) 193 Effector Object 286, 354 Expressions 106 Applying an Expression 114 Built-in Functions 124 Expression Builder 115 Using Expressions 111 Expression (channel motion modier) 228 Expression Builder 110

LightWave 9 Table of Contents

III

Incoming Curves 101 Keyboard Shortcuts 94 Key Pop-up Menu 98 Menu Layout 94 Modier Tab 127 Options 96 Panel Layout Adjustments 86 TCB Adjustments, interactive 104 Time Slider 85 Toolbar 91 Zooming and Panning 90 graph Editor Pre and Post Behaviors 100 Grid, Layout 15 Effect on Positioning 15 Relative Camera/Light Sizes 15 Ground Fog. See Fog, normal

IKB Boost Tool IKB Menu 302 IKB Calculate 316 IK Booster 192 IK Booster Link 314 IK Booster Link Modier Options 315 IK Booster Track 307 IK Boost Tool IK Booster and the Dope Track 304 Motions 303 Image Filters. See Image Editor Image World 467 Inertia 228 Input Device 512 Item Shape 195

J
JointMorph 223 Joint Morph Plus 223 Jolt 357

H
Hermite Spline 104 HyperVoxels 474 Baking 487 Drawing 192 Gradient Input Parameters 492 HyperTexture Tab 491 Particles 223 ParticleStorm Color 486 Setting Management 483 Shading Tab\: Sprite Mode 489 Shading Tab\: Surface Mode 486 Shading Tab\: Volume Mode 487 Show Particles 486 Sprites 483 Sprite Clip Frame Offset 490 Sprite Texture Resolution 483 Stretching and Rotating 484 Transparent Surfaces 475 Volume Mode Advanced Sub-tab 488

K
Keyboard Shortcuts 509 assign a command 509 Finding Assignments 510 Mapping Sets 510 unassign a command 510 Keyframer 335 Keyframe Shifting 308 Keyframing. See Graph Editor Automatically Creating 513 Creating 325 Creating and Modifying Keys Automatically 326 Deleting. See Graphic Editor

L
Layout Exporting Items 64 Load Commands 60

IV

LightWave 9

Layout Edit Drop Down Menu 508 Layout Grid Tools 529 Layout Items Tab 77 Load Scene 77 Layout Selection Tools 530 All Drop Down Menu 530 Order Drop Down Menu 530 Related Drop Down Menu 531 Layout Transport Controls 251 Keyboard Shortcuts 251 Lazy Points 233 Lens Flares OpenGL 521 Level-of-Detail Mesh Renement 195 Level-of-Detail Object Replacement 187 Libraries 108 Lights. See \ Lightwave LightWave Layout Interface 11 Virtual World 4 LightWave Macro Recorder 178 Light Properties 34 Basic Light Attributes 34 Global Illumination:Ambient Light 34 Lens Flare:Anamorphic Distort 50 Lens Flare:Central Ring 50 Lens Flare:Fade and Dissolve Options 48 Lens Flare:Glow Options 49 Lens Flare:Lens Flare Options 47 Lens Flare:Lens Flare Viewport Preview 48 Lens Flare:Streaks 50 Lens Flares 46 Lens Reections 51 Lighting Introduction 34 Lights Display Size 36 Light Color and Intensity 42 Light Exclusion 37 Light Types 37 Light Types:Distant Light 38 Light Types:Intensity Falloff 38

Light Types:Linear and Area Lights 41 Light Types:Point Light 38 Light Types:Spotlight 39 Light Types:Spotlight:Viewport Display 40 Light Types:Spotlight:Virtual Projector 40 Saving Lights 37 Shadow:Cache Shadow Map 45 Shadow:Lightening Shadows 46 Shadow:Shadow Color 46 Shadow:Shadow Mapping 44 Shadow:Shadow Map Area 45 Shadow:Shadow Map Size 45 Shadow:Shadow Type 44 Shadow:Transparent Objects 45 Shadows 43 Volumetric Lights 53 Volumetric Lights:Light Textures 55 Volumetric Lights:Shadows within Lights 56 Limits 296 Minimum Joint Angles 296 LScript 169, 288, 360 LScript/RT 170 LScript Commander 170 LS Compiler 171 LScript Expressions 111 Luxigons 57 LW_ColrPikr 513 LW_HVRealFlow_import\ Legacy Tool 228 LW_HyperVoxel_Particles\ Legacy Tool 228

M
Manipulating Selections 157 MathMotion 291, 363 Math Morph 236 MD_MetaPlug 234 MD_MetaPlug_Morph 235 MD_Scan 235 Measurement Unit System 515

LightWave 9 Table of Contents

Meta-Primitive Objects 191 Display and Render Levels 191 Metamation Metaform Shaper and MetaformTarget- Legacy Tools 236 MipMap 525 Mirror Hierarchy 276 Mirror Tool 82 MM (Motion Mixer) Channel Driver 132 Mocap_BVH_Setup 63 Modify Transform 342 Modify Tab 337 Translate 337 Morph Gizmo Render Legacy Tool 236 Morph Mixer. See Endomorphs Morph List. See Endomorphs Morph Mixer Options 238 Morph Slider Area 238 Morph Targets. See Endomorphs Multiple Target/Single Envelope 200 Motions Motion Options Panel 281, 349 Motion Baker 289, 360 Motion Blur 252 Motion Capture Preview 198 Motion Designer Motion les, saving 329 Motion Designer Displacement Plug-ins Legacy Plugins 233 Motion Instancing 90, 372 Motion Menu 375 Motion Mixer 368 Actor Maps 376 Baking 377 Blending Motions with Transitions 372 Channel Editor 378 Editing Motions 376 Motion Properties 370

Offset Editor 378 Pre and Post Behavior Options 371 X Channels 379 Motion Paths Editing directly 326 Move Keys 337 Moving an item 340

N
NoisyChannel 132 NormalDisplacement 229 Normal Fog. See Volumetrics Null Object 78

O
Objects, Layout Properties 192 ObjectSequence 188 Object Comments 194 Object Displacement Morph Mixer 236 Object Properties 186 Deform Tab 199 Dynamics Tab 248 Edges Tab 244 Geometry Tab 186 Geometry Tab:Add Custom Object 186 Geometry Tab:Object Replacement 187 Lights Tab 247 Lights Tab:Exclusions 247 Panel Introduction 186 Render Tab 239 Render Tab:Alpha Channel 240 Render Tab:Clip Mapping 239 Render Tab:Distance Dissolve 241 Render Tab:Matte Object 240 Render Tab:Object Dissolve 241 Render Tab:Unaffected By Fog 242 Render Tab:Unseen By Rays 242

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LightWave 9

Object Properties\ Displacement Plug-ins 220 Object Shadow Options 243 ObjList 188 Oscillator (item motion modier) 289, 361 Oscillator, item motion modier 130 Overlay Color 523

P
Parenter 294, 366 Pivot Point 338 Moving the Pivot Point 338 Rotate Pivot 341 Plugins 172 Add Plug-ins 172 Edit Plug-ins 172 Flush Plug-ins 173 Last Plug-in 173 Master Plug-ins 173 Print Assistant 24 Protractor 196 Proxy Pick 178

R
Range Finder 197 Relative XZ Custom Offset Type 90, 372 Render Options Enable Viper 252 Replacing Scene Items 83 Resetting tool 345 RIG Export RIG 279 Import RIG 277 Rotate an item 341 Ruler 197

S
Saslite 236

Sasquatch Lite 206 SasLite Options Dialog Box 209 Scenes Navigating 324 Playing 325 Scene Editor 133 Dope Sheet 154 General Rules 137 Hierarchy 136 Item List 134 Keyboard Shortcuts 159 Playback Controls 159 Selection 138 Selection Sets 142 Sorting 137 Type and Color 135 Scene Editor Options 160 Dope Sheet Options 162 General Options 160 Properties Options 161 Schematic View 16, 521 View Tools 527 Serpent 230 SetDrivenKey 131 Setup Tab 260 Shadows HyperVoxels 244 Shockwave 3D 70 ShowCurve 198 Show Field Chart 520 Show Safe Areas 520 Simple Constraints 293, 365 Adding Constraints 293, 365 Deleting Constraints 294, 366 Skelegons. See Setup Tab Bone Twist 268 Modify 263 Single Bone 267 Tip Mover 267 Skygen 503

LightWave 9 Table of Contents

VII

SkyTracer 494 SkyTracer2 494 Atmosphere Panel 495 Clouds Panel 497 Suns Panel 502 Texture Editor Panel 501 Sky Baker Panel 503 Sliders 198, 345 congure your sliders 346 Working with OpenGL Sliders 346 SockMonkey 197 Sock Monkey 231 Basic Setup 231 Speedometer 197 Spline Control 236, 347 Spline Control Options 348 Spread Sheet Property Panel 146 Spread Sheet Scene Manager 179 Workspaces 179 Steamy Particles Legacy Tool 236 SubPatch 189 Display and Render Levels 190 Using SubPatch 189 Surface Filter Options Panel 145 Channels Tab 145 Surfaces Tab 145 Surface List Display 143 Surface List View 143

Track Area 374 Trail Particle Trail 236

U
UnParent Bone 274 Unseen By Camera 242 Utilities Tab 168 Commands 168

V
Viewport, Layout Controllers. See \ View Layout 529 View Mode 528 View Tab 528 Viewport:Zoom In and Zoom Out in Layout 528 Viewports 528 Viewports:Fit All 528 Viewports:Fit Selected 528 VIPER 252 HyperVoxels 478 Other Preview modes 253 Preview Options 253 Surface Preview Mode 252 Window and Presets 56 Visual Browser 513 Volumetrics. See Fog, GroundFog, and HyperVoxels Particles 470 Plug-ins 472 Volumetric Lights Background 469 VRML97 Custom Object 199 VRML Implementation 68

T
TCB Spline 101 TCB Tool 316 TextureChannel 132 Textured Environment 468 TextureMotion 291, 363 TimeWarp Curves 90, 372 Toolbar, Layout 517 Tools IKB Boost Tool 300

W
Weight Curve 89, 371 Weight Normalization 298 Workspace 159

VIII

LightWave 9

World Coordinates 285, 354

Z
Z-Buffer 483