LightWave 3D® 2019 is Now Available - Official Discussion Thread

[gar26lw]

Funny this comes up this morning. Just last evening I discussed this with someone in senior management. Here is part of my email:

"I’ve often thought that the arcane knowledge required in some domains had lagged somewhat deliberately, having as much to do with job security as real demands of the field. Imagining that this sort of ‘guild’ approach can continue indefinitely in this new millennium is usually going to be a mistake.

Most of the upcoming generation have the attention span of a flea on amphetamines, and no patience with documentation. They’ve become accustomed to UI conventions from the cradle, and quickly become frustrated with the unfamiliar, complex or tedious. You’d best have a very good reason for not following standard Microsoft or Adobe practice; simply because you’ve got a better way is not good enough. Nor is the fact that making the presentation of a feature simpler, more intuitive, will take a little extra engineering time."​

A salute, then, from one curmudgeon to another.

Add maya to that. esp maya nav

 

[jaxtone]

Thanks for your answer SBowie!

What can I say more than that as an old flower power child of my generation, (I am 66 this year), I openly without any addictions confess that I am well aware of all kind of drugs and also admit that I anytime would chose stuff that drives me forward rather than put me to sleep

Whatever we oldies think about the future world the harsh truth is that we are soon about to leave it and when new generations take over I can almost guarantee that a majority of creative minds will not put effort in solutions that are spelled "detours" in the meaning of GUI´s. Honestly why should they repeat our mistakes when we´ve been scratching our heads until we got bald if they do not need to? I´ll try not not be prejudiced when criticize an area I´ve found "not so very funny" during the years but its pretty obvious that it is an advantage to have at least one foot in the autism-spectra when entering the world of binary code.

I admit I have been doing things on the road a preacher would not be proud of but the most shameful thing is this:

I must have some kind of sick fetish when constantly being smashing my head against unnecessarily complicated interfaces for about 30 years now, and then I didn't even mention the hair solution both for me and the characters inside LW

My Generation- The Who
Well, people try to put us down. Talkin' bout my generation.
Just because we get around. Talkin' bout my generation.
The things they do look awful cold. Talkin' bout my generation.
I hope I die before I get old. Talkin' bout my generation.
My generation.

Why don't you all just fade away? Talkin' bout my generation.
And don't try to dig what we all say. Talkin' bout my generation.
I'm not trying to cause a big sensation. Talkin' bout my generation.
I'm just talkin' bout my generation. Talkin' bout my generation.
My generation.

Funny this comes up this morning. Just last evening I discussed this with someone in senior management. Here is part of my email:

"I’ve often thought that the arcane knowledge required in some domains had lagged somewhat deliberately, having as much to do with job security as real demands of the field. Imagining that this sort of ‘guild’ approach can continue indefinitely in this new millennium is usually going to be a mistake.

Most of the upcoming generation have the attention span of a flea on amphetamines, and no patience with documentation. They’ve become accustomed to UI conventions from the cradle, and quickly become frustrated with the unfamiliar, complex or tedious. You’d best have a very good reason for not following standard Microsoft or Adobe practice; simply because you’ve got a better way is not good enough. Nor is the fact that making the presentation of a feature simpler, more intuitive, will take a little extra engineering time."​

A salute, then, from one curmudgeon to another.

 

[thomascheng]

Funny this comes up this morning. Just last evening I discussed this with someone in senior management. Here is part of my email:

"I’ve often thought that the arcane knowledge required in some domains had lagged somewhat deliberately, having as much to do with job security as real demands of the field. Imagining that this sort of ‘guild’ approach can continue indefinitely in this new millennium is usually going to be a mistake.

Most of the upcoming generation have the attention span of a flea on amphetamines, and no patience with documentation. They’ve become accustomed to UI conventions from the cradle, and quickly become frustrated with the unfamiliar, complex or tedious. You’d best have a very good reason for not following standard Microsoft or Adobe practice; simply because you’ve got a better way is not good enough. Nor is the fact that making the presentation of a feature simpler, more intuitive, will take a little extra engineering time."​

A salute, then, from one curmudgeon to another.

This is very true. Technology is supposed to make life easier and more convenient. Some may view it as laziness, but we have to think about how we use to write a letter and wait weeks for delivery, now we have email. We use to travel months to get across the ocean, now we just hop on a plane. I use to cook my meals, now, I mostly eat out. CG use to be hard, now we have a "Make Starwars button". Well not yet, but the paradigm constantly changes towards convienence and ease.

 

[TheLexx]

Technology is supposed to make life easier and more convenient. Some may view it as laziness, but we have to think about how we use to write a letter and wait weeks for delivery, now we have email. We use to travel months to get across the ocean, now we just hop on a plane. I use to cook my meals, now, I mostly eat out. CG use to be hard, now we have a "Make Starwars button". Well not yet, but the paradigm constantly changes towards convienence and ease.

I do agree, but one reason why we are in this existence is because people from the Middle Ages had the aspirations to get out of the Middle Ages....but this is not necessarily the world they envisaged - the plastic bag culture and toxins all over the environment and food chain, even the air unbreathable.

Our value seems only the collective use to various corporations. When things are invented and developed and marketed for our convenience, we all go for it unaware of the consequences till decades later, and we don't really have the option to reverse time to reboot in a different direction. I personally don't have any answers at all, but the post-WWII sci-fi visions of technology solving human problems now seem the be the fantasies, whilst the more dystopian visions seem to be where we are headed.

But I still want GPU rendering. I feel really really bad.....

 

[Verlon]

I do agree, but one reason why we are in this existence is because people from the Middle Ages had the aspirations to get out of the Middle Ages....but this is not necessarily the world they envisaged - the plastic bag culture and toxins all over the environment and food chain, even the air unbreathable.

Our value seems only the collective use to various corporations. When things are invented and developed and marketed for our convenience, we all go for it unaware of the consequences till decades later, and we don't really have the option to reverse time to reboot in a different direction. I personally don't have any answers at all, but the post-WWII sci-fi visions of technology solving human problems now seem the be the fantasies, whilst the more dystopian visions seem to be where we are headed.

But I still want GPU rendering. I feel really really bad.....

The optimist believes the world is as good as it can be. The pessimist is afraid it is. Optimistic people live longer, statistically speaking.

The air is completely breathable. I am breathing it now. The toxins, while a concern, are not nearly as bad as the plague. Silver didn’t tarnish until the 1500s or so because of sulfur in the atmosphere.

Technology has solved a great many problems, but we do have new ones, and not all from technology.

- - - Updated - - -

I do agree, but one reason why we are in this existence is because people from the Middle Ages had the aspirations to get out of the Middle Ages....but this is not necessarily the world they envisaged - the plastic bag culture and toxins all over the environment and food chain, even the air unbreathable.

Our value seems only the collective use to various corporations. When things are invented and developed and marketed for our convenience, we all go for it unaware of the consequences till decades later, and we don't really have the option to reverse time to reboot in a different direction. I personally don't have any answers at all, but the post-WWII sci-fi visions of technology solving human problems now seem the be the fantasies, whilst the more dystopian visions seem to be where we are headed.

But I still want GPU rendering. I feel really really bad.....

The optimist believes the world is as good as it can be. The pessimist is afraid it is. Optimistic people live longer, statistically speaking.

The air is completely breathable. I am breathing it now. The toxins, while a concern, are not nearly as bad as the plague. Silver didn’t tarnish until the 1500s or so because of sulfur in the atmosphere.

Technology has solved a great many problems, but we do have new ones, and not all from technology.

 

[Teruchan]

CG use to be hard, now we have a "Make Starwars button".

Still waiting for that one...

 

[lardbros]

Funny this comes up this morning. Just last evening I discussed this with someone in senior management. Here is part of my email:

"I’ve often thought that the arcane knowledge required in some domains had lagged somewhat deliberately, having as much to do with job security as real demands of the field. Imagining that this sort of ‘guild’ approach can continue indefinitely in this new millennium is usually going to be a mistake.

Most of the upcoming generation have the attention span of a flea on amphetamines, and no patience with documentation. They’ve become accustomed to UI conventions from the cradle, and quickly become frustrated with the unfamiliar, complex or tedious. You’d best have a very good reason for not following standard Microsoft or Adobe practice; simply because you’ve got a better way is not good enough. Nor is the fact that making the presentation of a feature simpler, more intuitive, will take a little extra engineering time."​

A salute, then, from one curmudgeon to another.

They sound very wise and 'in-touch'. Glad you have people like that in charge... I agree with every word.

 

[scross]

I have a question about the LWO2 (2015) export from Modeler 2019.1.3

The question is this. Is there a way to preserve materials and textures?
I have a converter that works with files exported from 11.6.3, but now, that's no longer the case.

I've searched through the forums, but have found no answer.

If this is not the correct place to post this, then please re-direct me and accept my apologies.

-s

 

[Tim Parsons]

I have a question about the LWO2 (2015) export from Modeler 2019.1.3

The question is this. Is there a way to preserve materials and textures?
I have a converter that works with files exported from 11.6.3, but now, that's no longer the case.

I've searched through the forums, but have found no answer.

If this is not the correct place to post this, then please re-direct me and accept my apologies.

-s

Sorry. LW2018 and up is completely different in the shading department, you'll just get a generic surfaces going backwards.

 

[scross]

Wouldn't NewTek want to assure backwards compatibility?
Isn't that why there is an export option for LWO2 (2015)?

What are folks that have importers based upon this format to do?

 

[lardbros]

The standard material still exists, but you'd have to rewrite the importers to work with the new systems.

Backward compatibility is impossible for PBR materials back to how LightWave used to do things. It's the same in 3ds Max now it has Arnold.
No converters do a conversion from Standard 3ds Max shaders to the new PBR or Physical materials... You can write your own though.

It would be cool if someone just took it on board and wrote a converter that did the materials, but I don't think it's something that's overly easy to do. I for one won't ever go back to LightWave 2015.
Bringing models over to 2018 or 2019 is fairly easy with the rmb menu in the surface editor though.

 

[prometheus]

Wouldn't NewTek want to assure backwards compatibility?
Isn't that why there is an export option for LWO2 (2015)?

What are folks that have importers based upon this format to do?

Use the object they exported and try to re-shade it as good as they can, you can´t apply any type of lw 2015 shaders, in 2018-2019, since they are not there...the standard material (which is a different thing) is still there if you apply it
on to the object, so that shouldn´t be much of a difference.

In short..if you need to export an object made in 2019 to 2015, with standard materials..you can do that..but don´t expect being able to export any shaders that aren´t there, you have to set that up once you import it to
lw 2015.

I do not see much of a problem here, if you want pbr materials, you use 2019, if you want shaders from 2015..and thus need to export from 2019, you use standard materials when you export to lwo2 2015 versions, and then fiddle with the lw shaders needed.

 

[Philbert]

Personally I just wish more third parties like 3D-Coat and HitFilm would update to accept LWO3. It's a real pain having to export as LWO2 every time I want to open it in another program.

 

[jeric_synergy]

Funny this comes up this morning. Just last evening I discussed this with someone in senior management. Here is part of my email:

"I’ve often thought that the arcane knowledge required in some domains had lagged somewhat deliberately, having as much to do with job security as real demands of the field. Imagining that this sort of ‘guild’ approach can continue indefinitely in this new millennium is usually going to be a mistake.

Most of the upcoming generation have the attention span of a flea on amphetamines, and no patience with documentation. They’ve become accustomed to UI conventions from the cradle, and quickly become frustrated with the unfamiliar, complex or tedious. You’d best have a very good reason for not following standard Microsoft or Adobe practice; simply because you’ve got a better way is not good enough. Nor is the fact that making the presentation of a feature simpler, more intuitive, will take a little extra engineering time."​

A salute, then, from one curmudgeon to another.

Blender.org TRIED to buck the "LMB Select" train.... they've finally thrown in that towel, thank god.

But watching them contort themselves into pretzels to try to justify an obviously unpopular UI mechanic was reminiscent of watching SONY pushing Beta.

I think they didn't really GET how painful it was to users to try to put aside decades of muscle memory.

 

[Philbert]

The first thing I did whenever installing blender was change the Select button to LMB. And then of course add the LWO importer.

 

[prometheus]

The first thing I did whenever installing blender was change the Select button to LMB. And then of course add the LWO importer.

Same here.

 

[Philbert]

Oh yeah and change the rotation to turntable. I know not everyone loves that but the trackball method drives me crazy. I with I could make Modeler use turntable when I Alt+Drag in Perspective.

 

[scross]

"It would be cool if someone just took it on board and wrote a converter that did the materials, but I don't think it's something that's overly easy to do."

What would be cool, would have been if NewTek simply kept the LWO2 (2015) format just as it was.
But instead, it appears that they have denigrated the format in an effort to force the adoption the new LWO3 format.

 

[Tim Parsons]

What would be cool, would have been if NewTek simply kept the LWO2 (2015) format just as it was.
But instead, it appears that they have denigrated the format in an effort to force the adoption the new LWO3 format.

They have kept LWO2 just as it was. And they updated it to eliminate all the roadblocks that it was causing and so now we have a new and improved LWO3 format that is perfectly happy reading LWO2 objects. You make it sound as if they changed it for change sake. :screwy: There were massive limits with LWO2 that are no longer there not only from a user perspective (node limits etc.) but from development as well. This change allows progress. It's a good change.

 

[scross]

Use the object they exported and try to re-shade it as good as they can, you can´t apply any type of lw 2015 shaders, in 2018-2019, since they are not there...the standard material (which is a different thing) is still there if you apply it
on to the object, so that shouldn´t be much of a difference.

In short..if you need to export an object made in 2019 to 2015, with standard materials..you can do that..but don´t expect being able to export any shaders that aren´t there, you have to set that up once you import it to
lw 2015.

I do not see much of a problem here, if you want pbr materials, you use 2019, if you want shaders from 2015..and thus need to export from 2019, you use standard materials when you export to lwo2 2015 versions, and then fiddle with the lw shaders needed.

The file large that I have in LW 11.6.3, when imported into LW 2019.1.3, loads just fine.
All of the materials and textures are present.
The materials are all set to the Standard material type.

It appears that the Standard material used in LW 2019.1.3 equates to the material used in LW 11.6.3?

But it sounds like you're saying that it's not.

So, how is it different?