Looking for a 3D animation system? There are many out there, from super simple to those built for rocket scientists, but what you need is a program that works the way you do. Smart and efficient. A program that's intuitive and responsive. Powerful enough to tackle any job, yet simple enough to be mastered by a single artist.

At NewTek, our goal is to develop cutting-edge and feature-rich products which allow ordinary people to do extraordinary things. We have a history of revolutionizing the industry with powerful, easy to use tools that work like you do - and don't break the bank in the process. It is our mission to make it realistic for you to realize your dreams, no matter where they take you, from architectural visualization, to independent production and major studio visual effects.

"The ponint is, the entire program received a good tune and those areas you
texture and render monkeys use is where you will see the greatest benefit.
Your renders will render faster, look better and give you more options.
It's one hell of an upgrade."

Kevin Quattro, CG Supervisor, CSI: Miami
Visual Effects Artist, Battlestar Galactica, Firefly, Serenity

You'll find LightWave is the most complete and robust 3D system right out of the box anywhere at any price. It is a thriving, dynamic system, ever evolving to meet the needs of our users. We work closely on a day-to-day basis with LightWave artists so that we know exactly what you are trying to accomplish. The LightWave renderer is first class, best in show and infinitely easier to set up and use than any other, not to mention the fact that unlimited render nodes are free!

We take great pride in the fact that LightWave artists have won more Emmy Awards than those using any other package. We are proud of the fact that our user community is the most passionate, most active and most helpful in the industry. LightWave is more than a 3D program, it is a business, it is an art form, it is a film, it is a game, it is realistic, it is cartoonish, it is moving, it is still... it is whatever you make of it.

LightWave is well established as a 3D workhorse. Its native rendered is unparalleled and serves as the centerpiece in the production pipeling of many facilities both large and small. Render nodes are free and set up is quite straightforward. LightWave Modeler excels both as a subdivision surface and a polygonal modeler, fast, efficient and again, straightforward in functionality. In addition, an industry leading node-based texturing and shading system allows you to create any look you desire - quickly and easily.

For the individual artist,
or artists working in small groups:

LightWave is your entry point into a whole new world. You get a ton of cool and useful features right out of the box that puts the competition to shame. No "unlimited" this or "advanced" that, no up sell and no extras. Everything you need is in the box when you buy. Of course, there are many cool third-party add-on products available, some freebies, and some not, but the point is, you can get a long way before you may need any. And, with free render nodes, LightWave grows with your business, and you.

For the studio pipeline:

LightWave has long been a mainstay in production studios, creating fantastic effects for major blockbuster movies, such as 300, The Guardian, The Da Vinci Code, Pan's Labyrinth and The Aviator, to name a few. LightWave works along side other 3D applications and compositing programs to help produce results in the studio pipeline. LightWave's open formats make integration into the pipeline a straightforward process. In television, LightWave leads the way with shows such as CSI: Miami, CSI: NY, Battlestar Galactica, Drive and many others. Here too, LightWave integrates into the pipeline, delivering fantastic results much more quickly than any other solution.

Many projects have long been rendered, in whole or in part, and with the improvements in the latest version, this trend is accelerating. That, and effectively unlimited free render nodes, makes this possible. Try pricing out your budget with more than 10 render nodes, and you will see what we mean!

"I did a test shot for "Drive" of 2 people on a motorcycle traveling down the road and it's just the most amazing render I've ever done, right out of LightWave, no compositing, it looked completely photoreal."

Jarrod Davis, Zoic Studios, CG Supervisor, Drive

LightWave is in the midst of a major renaissance, a complete rebirth, driven by the needs of 3D artists worldwide. Vast improvements have been made to the system in the LightWave v9 development cycle so far. A large troupe of LightWave artists contribute to the development efforts through the Open Beta program, where registered owners of LightWave v9 gain early access to the software for testing and feedback. As a result, the LightWave v9 series, including the recent LightWave v9.2, has seen the following:

Rendering:

• Photoreal Motion Blur: Artifact-free live action blur as if photographed with film
• New anti-aliasing methods: Greater control for balancing quality with render speed
• New global illumination and radiosity: Easily create photorealistic scenes, sharacters and products while simulating the effect of real-world lighting in photography
• Progressive previews for global illumination: Provide immediate feedback
• Implementation of state-of-the-art BSP/KD Tree Algorithm: Provides much faster and more efficient raytracing; bigger scenes render a lot faster
• Improved multi-threading with dynamic segmentation: Insures maximum use of available CPUs, optimizing render times

Adaptive Pixel Subdivision:

• Speed increases many times over previous versions of LightWave: More efficient render times for today's increasingly ambitious high polygon-count scenes for production
• Adaptive subdivision of a mesh based upon distance from the camera and visibility: Allows for effective use of system resources for workflow viewing versus rendering
• APS Choice: Per Object, Per Polygon and Per Pixel: Provides the widest range of flexibility

Advanced Camera Tools:

• RealLens Camera: Physically correct cameras allow recreation of any real-world camera lens for matching footage rendered in LightWave to real-world photography (a must for compositing CGI and real footage together.)
• New rendering technology produces scenes using arbitrary camera lenses and warps: Create fantastic effects such as: camera plane deformations, arbitrary projections, UV map generation, true orthographic rendering, space warp simulations, lens distortion duplicating real-world lenses or "imaginary" lenses and one-camera 360° panorama rendering.

"We love the LightWave renderer. It makes beautiful, motion-picture quality images and it's fast."

Ray McIntyer, Jr., Pixel Magic,
Visual Effects Supervisor, 300, Blood Diamond, The Last Samurai

Node Editor:

• New subsurface scattering materials and shaders: Accurately simulates lighting and shading for materials such as marble, milk, etc., as well as a specific and easy to use material for skin shading.
• Material Nodes: Conductor, Dielectric, Delta and more: Allow for the creation of physically accurate surfaces such as glass, liquid and metals quicker and easier than ever before.
• New Make Material and Standard Nodes: Allow for conbination of shading models and other node maps to create your own distinct material.
• Blinn, Oren-Nayar, Ambient Occlusion and other shading models: Provide unlimited shading possibilites.
• Shaders for sub-surface scattering & anisotropic specular & reflection shaders: Allow for easy-to-use chromatic dispersion in surfaces, and offer spectacular visual impact.
• Support for normal maps from ZBrush® 2 and Mudbox™: Adds incredible detail to low-poly models via displacement.
• Workflow flexibility: Nodes can be used freely with layers and even shader plug-ins.
• Full support of native controls and envelopes: Best of both worlds when texturing materials - quick and easy traditional layers and powerful and flexible nodes.
• Full SDK support: Allows third-parties to create nodes (including shading models) and for third-party renderers to interface with and query nodal shaders. A vast selection of third-party nodes and cameras is already available.

"v9.2 is the single most significant upgrade LightWave has had for my purposes, which is mainly Architectural Visualization. Much of my work as of late I can't imagine doing without the v9.2 features or speed."

Tom Bossachaert, Except Visualizations

 
 
 
A fun take on the Cornell box, called the "Roswell" box, features new radiosity and material nodes and shaders: conductor, sigma and skin. Created by Kory Heinzen

New Material Shaders, left to right: Conductor, Delta Solid, Delta Transparent, Dielectric, Sigma and Simple Skin.
Created by Gregg Glezakos.

Modeling:

• Improved editing performance: Create and edit your models and meshes faster than ever before.
• New screen drawing system in OpenGL: See the results of your changes faster than ever before.
• Catmull-Clark subdivision surfaces: Expand and simplify the modling workflow by widening subdivision capabilities to include edges, edge weighting and n-gons.

Other:

• Native 64-bit support: Ability to access more RAM allows for creation of more complex and realistic scenes, as well as production at higher resolutions for film, high-definition television and print.
• Multiplatform: Provides complete operating system flexibility from work to home: Windows 32-bit, 64-bit, Mac Universal Binary.
• Dual & Multicore support: Allow you to tap into the full power of the latest advancements in hardware technology.
• Unlimited Free Render Nodes: Make photorealistic rendering affordable across a large network.
• Free technical support: Saves time and money.

We can't begin to tell you everything you may want to know about LightWave on a single web page. What we've included here are the highlights of our latest product release, and this is just the beginning.

We encourage you to explore all of the additional resources available to learn more. Browse this site and you'll find more details on LightWave uses throughout the industry, amazing user profiles and videos, greater details on the full breadth of LightWave's offerings and informative user forums. We've given you the resources for a great start.

Find out why LightWave is right for you!