LWConnect any questions??

[Bobt]

LWConnect available NOW

Hi folks. I am truely excited to bring to you LWConnect.
Its one of the coolest things I have written. Not because of the
complexity but becuase of the simple power it brings to you
so you can make some of the COOLEST video creations.
You have read about it, seen it, but may be wondering
about it. If so let the Q&A happen.

In case you have not heard LWConnect is a plugin for VTEdit.
It links with simplistic ease Lightwave with VTEdit.
As someone I was talking to said, this may not seem like much
but its a LOT.
You dont have to know anything about LW to harness this great
eye candy generator.
LWConnect comes with over 100 effect scenes to start and there
will be more, thanks to David Hebel, we will shortly pick up a
bunch more from the old FlyFX scenes. Those will be available for
download for free from our user forum we are working to create.
And thats NOT all!
We are constantly making new scenes, some small some not so
small that will be available to you to use if you purchase LWConnect.
And we will be working on theme sets for sale.

If you havent seen how LWConnect does what it does vist the garage
http://www.toastergarage.com/lwconnect

I dont want you to feel any angst when you walk by a
Boris booth you have Lightwave a 1500 dollar 3DEngine that has
won award after award at your finger tips.
Now you can leverages its strength without have to burden yourself
with its learning curve using LWConnect.

Bob

[Eric Pratt]

I've made some videos of LW Connect in action, a quick walkthrough showing what the process is of going from VTEdit to LWConnect to LW and back to VTEdit, and also a few videos of some FX for LWConnect: http://www.virtualsetworks.com/Products.BobsFX.htm

[radams]

This is amazing stuff Bob!!!

I wanted to know can you create your own scenes files to use or is it canned ones only?

Can I auto send layers out to LW and then create my scene from them?

Can we auto use the alpha keys/overlays to help either cut out images or even use for displacement/ bump maps?

Will this work on VT4?

Will this work with Fprime from Worley labs?

What about Chroma keys?

Can the resultant scene file be saved and then used as a preset?

If this all can happen then we have more power with TED, LW connect and Aura than you have with an Inferno..(thou not real time operations)..but total 3D power and control with in an editor...YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now if we could do this with Aura, Mirage, Digital Fusion, or AE...
Who needs discreet/quantel ;) and the $$$$$$$$ price tag.

Cheers,

Ray Adams

[Bobt]

WOW COOL Questions.. :)

>I wanted to know can you create your own
>scenes files to use or is it canned ones only?
You can. In fact in the PDF that came with LWConnect there
is some information on how to do just that. Its like a simple
open format.

>Can I auto send layers out to LW and then
>create my scene from them?
Well you can use one you created or modify one that already exists.
The plugin simply reads a directory of scenes and those all end up
in a chooser.


>Can we auto use the alpha keys/overlays to help
>either cut out images or even use for
>displacement/ bump maps?
OH YEAH you can. I a scene I made myself that
does this and so does Robert.

>Will this work on VT4?
Sure there is a VT4 and VT3 version included
on the CD.

>Will this work with Fprime from Worley labs?
YES Robert uses that all the time!

>What about Chroma keys?
You mean timeline chroma key?
Hmm.. You can use RTV with alpha it will read or
write that format.

>Can the resultant scene file be saved and
>then used as a preset?
YES thats one of the beautis of this thing..


>If this all can happen then we have more power
>with TED, LW connect and Aura than you have
>with an Inferno..(thou not real time operations)..
>but total 3D power and control with in an >editor...YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thats WHAT I said!!!
Everything is fast if it doesnt use volumetrics or
hypervoxels.

>Now if we could do this with Aura,
>Mirage, Digital Fusion, or AE...
Digital Fusion? Funny I had a chat with them and YES
this is will probably happen.

Mirage, had a chat with them but they are in development of
something or another. So you have to wait.
AE whats that, (joking) DUNNO Havent had a chat with them
in a while. Since LWConnect I cant get over everything you
can do with LightWave.

I actually have another app in mind but havent contacted them yet.

Bob

[Bobt]

Actually that leads me to a question.
I dont have Digital Fusion does anyone have a version
they are not using so I can borrow it?

Thanks,
Bob

[radams]

Hi Bob,

Thanks for the reply, If I may make a request...
Is to have a preset scene be one with the layer stack on top of each other on a Z-axis but perfectly registered to the output settings on the x/y...

Then it could be a starting point for many FX's and advance scenes...then you will have a perfect layered FX on the Z...

I've got a few other ideas that I want to experitment with once I get my hands on LW connect...

Cheers,

[UnCommonGrafx]

Hey Ray,
There is a formula I use to get folks started.
I'll have a vid tute up later today showing the creation process.

The scene you speak of is called "06_450_SimpleMontage". That's 6 layers of video in a scene of 450 frames. This particular scene just slides these planes out clockwise with one going right, two going down, etc to 5 which is static and flips out to the screen. The background plate holds another image, the sixth.

Got you covered on that one. NEXT!

[radams]

Well that's helpful...but make it even simpler...just a depth stacked layers...then the user can then do anything they want with it...then you don't have to delete and get rid of things you don't want...this would be a basic starting point for any advance creation... that starts out automatically frame registered with with Z depth...

;)

Cheers,

[radams]

Another thing I would like to see...is that once we have a scene setup that if we wanted se could send to render a VT-DVE if desired...with understanding the know limits meaning no overlays etc.. for the video inserted...but for it be able to setup and work with planes and objects etc...

Cheers,

[UnCommonGrafx]

Ray,
It is already as you speak and that simple. :cool:

All planes are registered in Z. The scene is just designed to get you thinking about this new paradigm. Delete the keyframes and you are set. Blochi has KeyFrameKiller, and some other very cool scripts.
http://www.blochi.com/gfx/lscripts_en.html
I EXPECT that people will have to delete and add things as that's the gist of this synergy. That's the beauty of it.

And seeing as you are trying to use them as comp plates, be sure to get the ActiveImagePlane plugin from here:
http://www.forwardgames.com/scripts.htm

And all the rest. See, many of the VTEdit guys don't know about all the FREE stuff that's available for LW that will make so much of their work a cakewalk.

I want people to know that they truly can make it the way they want. As to your dve creation kit question, yes, you could run one of these scenes through it. But, based on my knowledge of the kit and how many of the LWConnect scenes are being built, there is no equivalent under the VTEdit DVE engine; it's just not possible.

What hasn't been discussed, yet, is that you can use LWConnect as a setup piece. Put it on the line to get your vid in and out of LW synced up, in the right places. Once this 'dve' is rendered, you actually have an rtv, with alpha if desired, that you can pull out and put on any timeline or what have you. You can even take the scene and put it back in the LWConnect dir as a new choice.

At no time is the user locked in to something WE decided. I think you will find this tool very useful. Sitting here thinking: using proxy hd imagery in VTEdit, you can pump it out to LW for backplate useage. LW is size independent so you could easily scale up to HD when ready... Very useful, indeed.

[radams]

Ah, if only VT was rez and frame rate independent ;)

Cheers,

[UnCommonGrafx]

Hehe, all I can say is, "We're ready."


No clients for it. But I'm ready.



chuckle