LightWave 11 Readme: Mac Sections

[Chuck]

LightWave 11.0 Read Me
April 16, 2012
(c) 2012 - NewTek, Inc. All rights reserved


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Introduction:
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Welcome to LightWave 11!

NewTek is pleased to present a new edition of LightWave 3D, offering a range of new features and functions to enhance workflow for 3D content creators. The LightWave 11.0 edition offers a new Instancing workflow with a variety of distribution options, motion and surfacing controls; hardbody Bullet Dynamics; a new Flocking Controller for applying behaviors to masses of objects; Python scripting with access to the same range of SDK elements as LScript; new interchange tools for ZBrush and Unity; improved volumetrics; FiberFX performance improvements, texturing of fibers, support for the new instancing system, and a new volumetric mode that provides normals and improved support for buffer output; new blending capabilities for all modes of HyperVoxels; a new, more powerful and comprehensive Compositing Buffer Export image filter; enhancements to the Viewport Preview Renderer (VPR) and rendering speed improvements for GI and sampling; and performance enhancements in both Layout and Modeler.

Loads of additional performance and stability enhancements make 11.0 a must-have update for any LightWave user.


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Recommended Instructions for Setting Up LightWave 11
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Important Notes before installing:

LightWave currently uses a USB hardware key to license the software. Proceed first with installing the software, then attach the USB hardware key before you run the software.

Do not install the LightWave 11 software over your v10.x or earlier series software!

If you have been using a beta version of LightWave 11, please delete the configuration files related to those builds. After deleting these files, new configuration files will be created after opening Layout and/or Modeler.




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Installation:
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LightWave 3D has a Mac Universal Binary Installer. This includes 32-bit and 64-bit applications for Intel Processors, all in a single application bundle.

It is recommended you do not install to a path that includes spaces.

The Installer is available by download.

1) Download the installer to your system and run it, or select and run the installer from the Program Install DVD.

2) Follow the simple step-by-step instructions the Installer will provide to complete your installation.


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Registering and Licensing
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Once you have installed LightWave 11, you can follow the registration instructions below to register your 11 full or upgrade.

1) You need the serial number from your LightWave package if you have purchased a new full seat of LightWave, or from your New Order Alert email if you purchased an upgrade online from NewTek.

2) Attach the USB hardware key.

3) Run Layout. When Layout is first run, it will report that the license.key file is not present and run in a limited "Discovery" mode. A small panel will display the Hardware Lock ID, usually a five-digit number. If you miss getting this noted when you start up Layout, you can go to the Help menu dropdown, click on it, and select About LightWave 3D. The About box will display the HardWare Lock ID just below the main logo at the top of the box.

4) When you have the serial number and the lock ID both ready, open a browser window and enter:

http://reg.newtek.com/

5) This takes you to the NewTek online registration system. If you have not registered a product with NewTek before, then Use the "New Registration" option on the page to create a new account with username and password. Be sure to put a valid email address into your account information, since your license key and other important information will be emailed to you.

If you have already registered a product with NewTek, enter your username and password to enter your account.

6) Once in your account, look for the Product Registration section on the page, use the "Select your Product" dropdown to select "LightWave 3D" to register a new full seat or an upgrade.

7) Next, you will get a page that has an entry field for the serial number. Type in your serial number, and hit enter.

8) Next you will be presented with a field to enter your Lock ID. Type in your Lock ID, and hit enter.

9) The system will now generate and display your license information, including the permanent license key, a 16-digit number, with a dash between each four-digit segment. Highlight and copy the license key.

10) Go to Layout, and from the Help dropdown, select "Enter License".

11) Paste the key into the entry field, and click on "OK".

12) Close and then relaunch Layout. LightWave should now run in fully licensed mode.

If you experience any problems with the automated registration system, you can also obtain your license key by emailing your serial number and lock ID to [email protected].

NewTek Customer Service will send a return email with your permanent LightWave 11 license key within 48 hours, during the normal work week. Then use Steps 10 through 12 above to enter your license key in the product.



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Documentation and Content Files: Install Disk and Download
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Install Disk
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The Install disk contains documentation as PDF files, and a content folder archive. The content folder is in "zip" compression format, so it can easily be extracted on both Windows and Mac OSX platforms using the built-in compression utilities, or the utility of your choice.

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Download
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The downloadable files for content and documentation are also zip files. However, the main content library is a two-part archive. For most zip utilities it is only necessary to select the first file, and the utility will extract both files. So, if you already have a third party utility, you can likely just use it for a simple one-step process to extract the content library.

On the Mac, we found that the 7-zip alternatives for the Mac user worked well in this regard; these can be found at the 7-zip site downloads page:

http://www.7-zip.org/download.html

Under "Some unofficial p7zip packages for Linux and other systems:"

p7zip for Mac OS X
EZ 7z for Mac OS X
7zX for Mac OS X

CNet also has 7zX for Mac OS X:
http://download.cnet.com/7zX/3000-2250_4-89405.html

Unfortunately, neither Windows nor Mac operating systems include support for this long-time standard for zip archiving in the native zip tools, so additional steps are needed before the OS native tools can be used.

On Mac you can simply to join the files first, and then extract them, and in fact NewTek has provided a Mac OSX Click-to-Run command script to join the two-volume files and extract the archive. The file is Mac_Extract_LightWave_11_0_Content.command.zip. Using this command file makes for a one-step process for the Mac user. This is included on the Install disk and among the downloads for 11.0.

When extracted, you should find the content folder about 2.27 GB in size, with 2135 files and 567 folders.



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Mac Universal Preferences and License Keys
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The license.key file for a single user, and user-specific settings should go in:

~/Library/Application Support/NewTek/LightWave/11.0/licenses

Any license.key file you want all users to have access to, and machine-specific settings should go in:

/Library/Application Support/NewTek/LightWave/11.0/licenses

Third party plug-ins for the user (as they start showing up) should probably go in:

~/Library/Application Support/NewTek/LightWave/11.0/Plugins/

Third party plug-ins you want all users of your machine to have access to should go in:

/Library/Application Support/NewTek/LightWave/11.0/Plugins/

The Extensions configuration file used to contain a list of all of the plug-ins you're using. Since we're using an automatic search now, the Extensions file will be empty by default. If the user manually adds a plug-in via the Add Plugins command, or by any non-automatic means, it will show up in that file. We're trying to move away from this mechanism, but we've left this capability in, in case you really need it.

Any objects or scenes you drag and drop into LightWave windows will not change the content directory.

Instructions for creating and placement of the license.key file in the Universal Binary:

1) Open TextEdit.app
2) Paste your permanent key on the first line
3) Select the 'Make Plain Text' item in the Format menu
4) Save the file. Name the file 'license.key', and place it in any one of the
following folders:

"support" folder, which is in the main LightWave program folder, next to Layout, Modeler, and other LightWave tools.

~/Library/Application Support/NewTek/LightWave/11.0/licenses

/Library/Application Support/NewTek/LightWave/11.0/licenses


5) Open Layout to confirm that the key worked.

 

[Chuck]

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Mac Universal Binary: Running Without the Hub
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One of the important changes is to the communications between the applications. LightWave uses a module called the "Hub" to provide communications and data exchange between Layout and Modeler. A means for not running the Hub has always been an option for workflows where this exchange is not desired. To provide for a means of interoperation of Layout and Modeler with other applications, operations have been changed so that a new interprocess communications mode will be active when the Hub is not active. When this new interprocess communication is active, Layout and Modeler will each update an object that they both have loaded, and which has been changed and saved from one of the applications. Operation with no communications is now accommodated with a new "Isolate" Mode.

For full discussions of these new modes and features, please see the manuals or help files.

For your convenience, we provide information below about how to run without the Hub, how to run in Isolate mode, and how to redirect your config files for portability of your LightWave folder, if you will be running from an external drive and changing systems.

The easiest means to run without the Hub is to locate and rename the Hub executable file in the same folder containing the Layout and Modeler applications. Once renamed, Layout and Modeler will not be able to locate and use it.


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Launching From a Script to Disable the Hub
or the Hub + IPC on the Mac
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For users who would like to have something they can mouse-click on to launch Layout, Modeler, or another application with specific arguments passed to it, it is simple to create a "bash" script to accomplish this. In the examples below we will set up a script to run without the Hub, which engages the inter-process communication (IPC) that lets Layout and Modeler talk to one another and to other application that may support this new method, and a script to run the applications in Isolate mode, with both Hub and IPC off, so the applications do not communicate with one another.

In our example scripts we will run Layout with the proper arguments for running without the Hub, and for running in Isolate mode. The same approach can be used to launch Modeler and other applications, as well as to specify other arguments than we have shown in the examples.


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Script for Running Layout without the Hub
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1. Launch /Applications/TextEdit by double clicking its icon.

2. Enter the following text into the edit window. It is important to have the ".app" extension included in the filename. The location of your LightWave installation may differ, so adjust as needed.

#!/bin/sh
open /Applications/NewTek/LightWave3D11.0/Layout.app --args -0

3. Save the text file to your desktop as "Launch Layout NoHub". Make sure to avoid a ".txt" extension when saving.

4. Open a Terminal window using the /Applications/Utilities/Terminal application.

5. The script must be 'executable' so it will launch as a command when double-clicked with the mouse instead of opening as a text file. Make sure the current working path is the desktop (enter "cd ~/Desktop" if necessary) then enter this command.

chmod +x "Launch Layout NoHub"

Note that on some OS configurations, you may need to prefix the file name with ./; and to avoid quotes, the spaces need a \ before them; so, either this:

chmod +x "./Launch Layout Isolated"

or this:

chmod +x ./Launch\ Layout\ Isolated

may need to be used instead.

6. Now, you can simply double-mouse-click the icon to launch Layout without the Hub.


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Script for Running Layout in Isolate mode
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1. Launch /Applications/TextEdit by double clicking its icon.

2. Enter the following text into the edit window. It is important to have the ".app" extension included in the filename. The location of your LightWave installation may differ, so adjust as needed.

#!/bin/sh
open /Applications/NewTek/LightWave3D11.0/Layout.app --args -i

3. Save the text file to your desktop as "Launch Layout Isolated". Make sure to avoid a ".txt" extension when saving.

4. Open a Terminal window using the /Applications/Utilities/Terminal application.

5. The script must be 'executable' so it will launch as a command when double-clicked with the mouse instead of opening as a text file. Make sure the current working path is the desktop (enter "cd ~/Desktop" if necessary) then enter this command.

chmod +x "Launch Layout Isolated"

Note that on some OS configurations, you may need to prefix the file name with ./; and to avoid quotes, the spaces need a \ before them; so, either this:

chmod +x "./Launch Layout Isolated"

or this:

chmod +x ./Launch\ Layout\ Isolated

may need to be used instead.

6. Now, you can simply double-mouse-click the icon to launch Layout in Isolate mode.


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Mac Universal Binary: Redirecting Config Files
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UB LightWave configuration files can be redirected by making a folder named "Preferences" in the same folder containing the Layout and Modeler applications. If this folder is present, the applications will use it as the preferred location and will place the 'redirected'config files into that "Preferences" folder when it makes or updates the files.

This allows the config files to 'follow' the location of the UB applications, such as being placed onto a USB flash drive.

Alternatively, it is also possible to make a "Preferences" folder inside the "support" folder, which is also in the same folder containing Layout and Modeler apps. If this folder is present (and the folder just described above is not present) the applications will place the config files there.

In summary, a Preferences folder in the same folder with Layout and Modeler gets top precedence for config file placement. A Preference folder in the "support" folder gets second precedence, and either of these options supersede a user's

"~/Library/Application Support/NewTek/LightWave/11.0" folder.


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Mac Dongle Notes
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Rainbow Eve3 Dongles:
Exchange Needed for 64-bit Cocoa LightWave
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View attachment 109202

LightWave 11.0 includes both 32-bit and 64-bit Mac support. If you are upgrading from a 9.x or earlier version of LightWave and have an Eve3 dongle, you need to be aware that only the Sentinel framework is provided for 64-bit operation, because SafeNet does not have plans to port the Eve3 Framework, which is required for the Mac-only Eve3 USB Dongles. If you plan to use the 64-bit version of LightWave 11, you will need to exchange it for the current Sentinel Ultrapro Dongle.

You can determine if you have an Eve3 dongle by checking the engraved logo on the top, where it will say Rainbow/Eve3.

Folks who have an Eve3 dongle can call or email Customer Services to request that the replacement dongle be sent out. There will be at most a small charge for the dongle exchange, the replacement will ship immediately upon request, and the customer can return the Eve3 dongle that is being retired after receiving and getting set up and running with the new Ultrapro dongle and new dongle ID.

NewTek will also provide confirmation of the exchange to any third parties from whom the user has products that key to the dongle, as for example do Worley Labs products. If you round up the necessary fax numbers or email addresses for your third party products, you can provide that information in your first call or email to NewTek CS, and that will enable the CS staff to send out the confirmation notices very quickly after entering the order.

Please note that we are not able to provide an exchange unit with the same Lock ID number that you currently have. If you have third party plugins that are keyed to the dongle but are no longer supported, you will not be able to use those plugins with the new dongle.

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Rainbow/SafeNet Duo Dongles:
Notes for Use with 32-bit and 64-bit Cocoa LightWave
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Originally, Rainbow was the company that made the dongles used by LightWave 3D. Rainbow was later acquired by SafeNet, so some Duo dongles are labeled Rainbow and some SafeNet. The Duo dongle information below applies to all Duos, regardless of which company name they show.

The Rainbow or SafeNet Duo dongle supports both the Eve3 Framework and the Sentinel driver. For LightWave 3D 11 64-bit the Sentinel Driver is used, and so will report a different Lock ID than did your 32-bit Mac LightWave 3D. Registration needs to be updated to allow for this, so for now users with Duo dongles will need to contact Customer Services in order to get a license key for 64-bit Mac UB, as Registration is generating a key based on the Eve3 lock ID.

Please note, however, that if you have also registered the Windows Lock ID for your Duo Dongle, then Registration may have generated an Open Beta license key for that ID, and if so, that should work as well for 64-bit on Mac.


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NOTE ABOUT CONFIGURATION FILES


If you have been using a beta version of LightWave 11, please delete the configuration files related to those builds.



3rd Party License Notifications


All 3rd-party license notifications are located in the <installation>/docs/Licenses/ folder.