Introduction........................................... 1
Installing the dongle.................................. 1
Installing the software................................ 2
Assigns.......................................... 2
FPU or non-FPU................................... 2
Macros and Arexx................................. 2
LW-config and Mod-config files................... 2
Screen Mode and Changemode Utility............... 3
Overview............................................... 4
Points........................................... 4
Polygons......................................... 4
Curves, Splines, Knots and Patches............... 5
Surfaces......................................... 5
Bones and Skeletons.............................. 5
Metamorphosis.................................... 6
Lights........................................... 6
Scenes........................................... 7
Key Frames....................................... 7
The Null Object.................................. 7
Layout Interface and its buttons....................... 8
Quit............................................. 8
The View group................................... 9
Perspective................................ 9
XY - XZ - ZY............................... 9
Light...................................... 10
Camera..................................... 10
The Edit group................................... 10
View....................................... 10
Object..................................... 10
Bone....................................... 10
Light...................................... 10
Camera..................................... 10
The Mouse group.................................. 10
Move....................................... 10
Rotate..................................... 10
Size....................................... 10
Stretch.................................... 10
Move Pivot Point........................... 10
Rest Length................................ 11
Reset...................................... 11
Centre..................................... 11
Numeric Input.............................. 11
Motion Graph............................... 11
Selected Item............................. 11
Frame buttons.............................. 11 - 14
Spline controls............................ 11
Bouncing Balls....................... 12
Tension, Continuity, Bias, Linear.... 12
Key frame buttons.......................... 13
Create, Delete....................... 14
Parent..................................... 14
Target..................................... 15
Render..................................... 16
First, Last Frame.................... 15
Frame Set, Advance................... 18
Manual, Automatic.................... 16
Bounding Box, Wireframe.............. 16
Resolution, Antialiasing............. 16
Render Display....................... 16
Save ANIM, Save RGB, Save Alpha...... 16
Save Framestores..................... 16
Data Overlay, Serial Recording....... 16
Preview Playback Controls.................. 17
Frame Rate (fps), End Playback....... 17
Preview, Free Preview................ 17
Motion Control Editor...................... 18
Clear, Load, Save.................... 18
Align to Path, Look Ahead............ 19
End Behaviour........................ 19
Reset, Stop, Repeat.................. 19
Create Key................................. 19
Delete Key................................. 19
Shift Keys................................. 19
Low/High Frame, Shift Frames by...... 19
Scale Keys........................... 19
Low Frame, High Frame................ 19
Scale Frames by...................... 20
Mouse Functions............................ 20
Create, delete, Drag, Scroll......... 20
Current Channel...................... 20
Current Keyframe..................... 20
Current Value........................ 20
Plot Frame limits, Automatic Limits.. 20
Spline Controls...................... 20
Use Motion, Cancel Changes........... 21
Layout Menus........................................... 22
The Scene menu................................... 22
About LightWave 3D......................... 22
Free Memory................................ 22
Clear Scene................................ 22
Load Scene................................. 22
Current Scene.............................. 23
Objects.................................... 23
Surfaces................................... 23
Lights..................................... 23
Polygons................................... 23
Images..................................... 23
Save Scene................................. 23
First Frame.......................... 23
Last Frame........................... 23
Frame Step........................... 23
Shift All keys............................. 23
Low Frame............................ 23
High Frame........................... 23
Shift Frames by...................... 23
Scale All keys............................. 23
Low Frame............................ 23
High Frame........................... 23
Scale Frames by...................... 23
Frame End Beep............................. 24
Scene Overview............................. 24
The Objects Menu................................. 25
Clear all Objects.......................... 25
Load Object................................ 25
Load Object from Scene..................... 25
Save all Objects........................... 26
Add Null Object............................ 26
Current Object............................. 26
Clear Object............................... 26
Replace Object............................. 26
Save Object................................ 26
Clone Object............................... 26
Object Skeleton............................ 26
Metamorph Level............................ 27
Metamorph Target........................... 27
Morph Surfaces............................. 27
Displacement Map........................... 27
Object Dissolve............................ 27
Distance Dissolve.......................... 28
Maximum Distance........................... 28
Clip Map................................... 28
Polygon size............................... 28
Polygon Edges.............................. 28
Particle Size.............................. 28
Line Size.................................. 28
EdgeColor.................................. 28
Self Shadow................................ 28
Cast Shadow................................ 28
Receive Shadow............................. 29
Bones and Skeleton Control Panel................. 30
Clear all Bones............................ 30
Add Bone................................... 30
Add Child Bone............................. 30
Bones Information Window......................... 30
Current Bone............................... 30
Clear Bone................................. 30
Rename Bone................................ 30
Bone Active................................ 31
Rest Position.............................. 31
Rest Direction............................. 31
Bone Rest Length........................... 31
Limited Size............................... 31
Influence Range............................ 31
The Surfaces menu................................ 32
Current Surface............................ 32
Polygon Usage.............................. 32
Load Surface............................... 33
Save Surface............................... 33
Rename Surface............................. 33
Alphbetize List............................ 33
Surface Color.............................. 33
Texture T.................................. 33
Diffuse Level.............................. 33
Diffuse Level T............................ 34
Outline Only............................... 34
Additive................................... 34
Sharp Terminator........................... 34
Specular Level............................. 34
Specular Level T........................... 34
Color Highlights........................... 34
Glossiness................................. 34
Reflectivity............................... 34
Reflectivity T............................. 35
Image Seam Angle........................... 35
Reflection Image........................... 35
Transparency............................... 35
Tarnsparency T............................. 35
Color Filter............................... 35
Refractive Index........................... 35
RI of Various Materials.................... 36
Edge Transparency.......................... 36
Opaque............................... 36
Normal............................... 36
Transparent.......................... 36
Edge Threshold............................. 37
Smoothing.................................. 37
Max Smoothing Angle........................ 37
Double Sided............................... 37
Bump Map T................................. 37
The Images menu.................................. 37
Clear all Images........................... 37
Load Image................................. 37
Load Sequence.............................. 38
Images in Scene............................ 38
Total Image Memory Use..................... 38
Current Image.............................. 38
Clear Image................................ 38
Replace Image.............................. 38
Resolution:Bits per Pixel:Memory Use....... 38
Frame Offset............................... 38
Loop Sequence.............................. 38
Loop Sequence Length....................... 39
Color Cycling.............................. 39
Off:Forward:Reverse........................ 39
Low:High Cycle Index....................... 39
Texture Mapping.................................. 40
Texture Type............................... 40
Planar Image map..................... 40
Cylindrical Image Map................ 40
Sperical Image Map................... 40
Cubic Image Map...................... 41
Front Projection Image Map........... 41
Procedural Textures.................. 41
Texture Color.............................. 41
Texture Image.............................. 42
Pixel Blending............................. 42
Negative Image............................. 42
Texture Axis............................... 42
Automatic Sizing........................... 42
Texture Size............................... 42
Texture Center............................. 42
World Coordinates.......................... 42
Texture Falloff............................ 42
Texture Velocity........................... 43
Texture Amplitude.......................... 43
Antialiasing............................... 43
Use Texture................................ 43
Remove Texture............................. 43
The Lights menu.................................. 44
Clear All Lights........................... 45
Add Light.................................. 45
Ambient Color.............................. 45
Ambient Intensity.......................... 45
Lights in Scene............................ 45
Enable Lens Flares......................... 45
Enable Shadow Maps......................... 45
Current Light.............................. 45
Clear Light................................ 45
Rename Light............................... 45
Clone Light................................ 46
Light Color................................ 46
Light Intensity............................ 46
Lens Flare................................. 46
Flare Options.............................. 46
Light Type................................. 46
Light Type Icons........................... 47
Point Light................................ 47
Spot Light................................. 47
Intensity Falloff.......................... 47
Cone Angle................................. 48
Soft Edge Angle............................ 48
Shadow Type................................ 48
Off.................................. 48
Ray Trace............................ 48
Shadow Map........................... 48
Shadow Map Size...................... 48
Shadow Fuzziness..................... 48
Use Cone Angle....................... 48
Shadow Map Angle..................... 49
Lens Flare Editor................................ 50
Flare Intensity............................ 50
Fade Off Screen............................ 50
Fade Behind Objects........................ 50
Fade in Fog................................ 50
Fade with Distance......................... 50
Nominal Distance........................... 50
Flare Dissolve............................. 51
Central Glow............................... 51
Red Outer Glow............................. 51
Glow Behind Objects........................ 51
Central Ring............................... 51
Star Filter................................ 51
Random streaks............................. 51
Off Screen Streaks......................... 51
Anamorphic Squeeze......................... 51
Lens Reflections........................... 51
Lens Flare Examples.................. 52
The Camera Menu.................................. 53
Rendering Type............................. 53
Wireframe............................ 53
Quickframe........................... 53
Realistic............................ 53
Trace Shadows.............................. 53
Trace Reflection........................... 54
Trace Refraction........................... 54
Basic Resolution........................... 54
Custom Size................................ 54
Overscan................................... 54
Pixel Aspect Ratio......................... 54
Letter Box................................. 55
Limited Region............................. 55
Segment Memory............................. 55
Resolution and Render Data Window.......... 55
Antialiasing............................... 55
Soft Filter................................ 56
Adaptrive Sampling......................... 56
Sample Threshold........................... 56
Film Size.................................. 56
Zoom Factor................................ 56
Equivalent Lens............................ 56
Field Rendering............................ 56
Reverse Fields............................. 56
Motion Blur................................ 56
Particle Blur.............................. 57
Blur Length................................ 57
Depth of Field............................. 57
Focal Distance............................. 57
Lens F-Stop................................ 57
Rendering Advice........................... 58
Test Rendering a Limited Region...... 58
The Effects menu................................. 60
Background Image........................... 60
Foreground Image........................... 60
FG Alpha Image............................. 61
Foreground Dissolve........................ 61
FG Fader ALpha............................. 61
Foreground Key............................. 61
Low Color Clip............................. 61
High Color Clip............................ 61
Solid Backdrop............................. 62
Backdrop Color............................. 62
Zenith Color............................... 62
Sky Color.................................. 62
Ground Color............................... 62
Nadir Color................................ 62
Gradient Squeeze........................... 62
Fog Type................................... 62
Minimum Fog Distance....................... 63
Maximum Fog Distance....................... 63
Minimum Fog Amount......................... 63
Maximum Fog Amount......................... 63
Fog Color.................................. 63
Backdrop Fog............................... 63
Dither Intensity........................... 63
Animated Dither............................ 64
Color Saturation........................... 64
The Envelopes Editor............................. 65
Clear Envelope............................. 65
Load Envelope.............................. 65
Save Envelope.............................. 66
Frame Offset............................... 66
End Behaviour.............................. 66
Create Key................................. 66
Delete Key................................. 66
Shift Keys................................. 66
Scale Keys................................. 66
Mouse Function............................. 67
Current Key Framne......................... 67
Current Value.............................. 67
Plot Frame Limits.......................... 67
Automatic Limits........................... 67
Spline Controls............................ 68
Use Envelope............................... 68
Remove Envelope............................ 68
Cancel Changes............................. 68
The Record menu.................................. 69
Data Overlay............................... 69
Render Display............................. 69
Save ANIM File............................. 70
ANIM File Name............................. 70
ANIM TYpe.................................. 70
Lock Palette............................... 70
Lock Palette Frame......................... 70
Loop ANIM.................................. 70
Begin Loop frame........................... 70
Save RGB Images............................ 70
RGB Image Prefix........................... 70
RGB Image Format........................... 70
Save Alpha Images.......................... 71
Alpha Image Prefix......................... 71
Alpha Image Format......................... 71
Fader Alpha Mode........................... 71
Save Framestores........................... 71
Play Framestores........................... 71
Framestores Comment........................ 71
Last Frame Displayed....................... 71
Serial Recording........................... 71
Starting Position.......................... 71
Record Setup 1............................. 71
Record Setup 2............................. 71
Record Command............................. 71
Frame Record Delay......................... 72
Extra First Delay.......................... 72
The Options menu................................. 73
Layout Interface........................... 73
Layout Grid................................ 73
Grid Square Size........................... 73
Layout Background.......................... 74
Blank...................................... 74
BG Image................................... 74
Preview.................................... 74
Show Motion Paths.......................... 74
Show Safe Areas............................ 74
Show Fog Radius............................ 74
Show Redraw................................ 74
Auto Key Adjust............................ 74
The SN menu...................................... 75
The Modeler Interface.................................. 76
Top, Face, Left and Preview Windows.............. 76
The Layer buttons................................ 77
Selected or Not-Selected?.................. 77
Selection Modes............................ 78
The Preview Window............................... 79
Modeler menus.......................................... 79
The Objects menu.................,,,............. 79
About................................ 79
New.................................. 79
The Fetch group............................ 79
Load.Save, Save As................... 79
Import, Export....................... 79
Macro................................ 79
The Create group........................... 79
Box, Ball, Disk, Cone................ 80
Sketch............................... 80
Numeric.............................. 80
Text................................. 80
The Modify menu.................................. 80
The Position group......................... 80
Move................................. 80
Rotate............................... 80
Size................................. 81
Stretch.............................. 81
Drag................................. 81
The Flex group............................. 81
Shear................................ 81
Twist................................ 81
Taper 1.............................. 81
Taper 2.............................. 81
Bend................................. 81
The Deform group........................... 81
Magnet............................... 81
Vortex............................... 82
Pole 1............................... 82
Pole 2............................... 82
The Multiply menu................................ 82
Extrude.............................. 82
Lathe................................ 82
Mirror............................... 82
Make................................. 82
The Sweep group............................ 83
Bevel................................ 83
Sm Shift............................. 83
Path Ext............................. 83
Rail Ext............................. 83
Patch................................ 84
Skin................................. 84
Morph................................ 84
The Replicate group........................ 84
Clone................................ 84
Array................................ 84
Rail Cln............................. 85
The Polygon menu................................. 85
The Create group........................... 85
Points............................... 85
Make................................. 86
Remove............................... 86
The Revise group........................... 86
Add Pnt.............................. 86
Rem Pnt.............................. 86
Attach............................... 86
Detach............................... 86
Split................................ 86
Merge................................ 86
The Transform group........................ 87
Surface.............................. 87
Triple............................... 87
Subdiv............................... 87
Align................................ 88
Unify................................ 88
Flip................................. 88
The Tools menu................................... 88
The Objects group.......................... 88
Drill................................ 88
S Drill.............................. 89
Boolean.............................. 89
The Points group........................... 90
Merge................................ 90
Weld................................. 91
Quantiz.............................. 91
Jitter............................... 91
Smooth............................... 91
The Curves group........................... 91
Make................................. 91
Make Cl.............................. 92
Start CP............................. 92
End CP............................... 92
Freeze............................... 92
Smooth............................... 92
The Display menu................................. 92
Magnify.............................. 92
Pan.................................. 92
Measure.............................. 93
In, Out.............................. 93
Fit All, Fit Sel..................... 93
Options.............................. 93
Orientation of Modeler Windows................. 93
Preview Window Function............ 93
Visibility of Construction Elements 94
Units of Measure................... 94
Grid Size and Functions............ 95
BG Image............................. 95
The Selection group........................ 95
Stats................................ 95
Info................................. 96
Sel Con.............................. 97
Invert............................... 97
The Visibility group....................... 97
Hide Sel............................. 97
Hide Uns............................. 97
Unhide............................... 97
Modeler Crash Course................................... 98
Layout Crash Course.................................... 100
Memory Issues.......................................... 104
Tutorials.............................................. 105
Tutorial 1: Loading and rendering a Scene.. 105
Tutorial 2: Maximum Smoothing Angle........ 108
Tutorial 3: The Smoothing Threshold........ 110
Tutorial 4: Subdivide Smooth............... 112
Tutorial 5: Bones.......................... 115
Tutorial 6: Metamorph...................... 120
Tutorial 7: Metaform....................... 122
Tutorial 8: Boolean Operations and the
Thewlis Interface Rule.......... 126
Tutorial 9: Patch command.................. 128
Tutorial 10: Null Objects................... 136
Tutorial 11: Bevelled Text Objects.......... 139
Tutorial 12: Make and Render a Boing Ball... 142
Tutorial 13: Texture Mapping a Surface
(Create an Ocean Scene)............... 158
Tutorial 14: Displacemant/Bump Mapping a Surface
(Create a Waving Flag Animation)...... 166
Tutorial 15: Applying Decals/Stickers to a Surface
(Cover a Formula 1 car body with ads)...177
Tutorial 16: Organic Modeling with metaNURBS
(Create a Basking Shark model)......... 191
Addendum
Modeler functions with no on-screen button......... 198
Keyboard equivalents of Modeler buttons............ 198
Known bugs......................................... 198
LightWave 3D version 5.0 - 5.5
An abrieviated Reference Guide follows the WaveGuide Addendum and has
its own Contents page (Download and CD-ROM editions only).
The hard copy version of WaveGuide has the v5.0-5.5 Reference Guide in
text format on an Amiga floppy disk.
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