Human Progress

**jasonwestmas** · 11-21-2013, 05:57 AM

"But yes, I have to keep reminding myself that switching to software X would most likely unveil a plethora of all new roadblocks."

Yes and no. Clearly there are quicker roads for character setup than wishing for more LW information and LWG support to come along on these subjects. Roads that appeal to artists for ALL aspects/features of character and creature creation in an animation context and not just a mere few.

**erikals** · 11-21-2013, 06:11 AM

sorta...

but for this kind of complex setup, i'd say you'd also run into gottchas with Maya / Max / SI

Maya blendshapes, not a fan personally
Max rigging, is it all that?
SoftImage, hm, they are discontinuing SI it seems.
Blender, has it's gottchas as well...

+a lot of other things for all of the apps above (+prices)
i know person X is not going to agree on my comment on application Y here, but hey... each to it's own \:P

so... LightWave?... why not... \:o

(don't get me wrong though, i know for example Maya is much better at rigging overall, exept for Blendshapes and the boring Node editor, and the lack of some DPont nodes, and the lack of easy animated UV groups)

**lardbros** · 11-21-2013, 06:52 AM

There would DEFINITELY be more roadblocks with shaders and 3dsMax for sure. I can't even imagine setting up a nice eyeball blend from the sclera to cornea... there would be other ways to cheat it, but I can imagine a hoard or rendering glitches and GI flickering/popping etc. Dielectric in 3dsMax is pretty useless, and so is the Arch Design materials for glass (still need air-polys etc). For all the effort you may save in rigging and nicer deformations, you'd have double the effort trying to get usable materials in 3dsMax and mental ray.

Vray on the other hand, that may be a benefit...

Go Chris though... love the work, and the music you compose. All totally awe inspiring!

**lardbros** · 11-21-2013, 07:09 AM

Originally Posted by Chris Jones

Here's a snapshot of the nodes (I don't think that Fresnel is doing anything useful..).

I'm pretty certain nothing plugged directly into the 'Surface' node will have an effect if you're using a material node. Not 100% sure it's the same with all of them, but pretty certain it is with reflections.

**jasonwestmas** · 11-21-2013, 07:19 AM

Originally Posted by erikals

sorta...

but for this kind of complex setup, i'd say you'd also run into gottchas with Maya / Max / SI

Maya blendshapes, not a fan personally
Max rigging, is it all that?
SoftImage, hm, they are discontinuing SI it seems.
Blender, has it's gottchas as well...

+a lot of other things for all of the apps above (+prices)
i know person X is not going to agree on my comment on application Y here, but hey... each to it's own \:P

so... LightWave?... why not... \:o

(don't get me wrong though, i know for example Maya is much better at rigging overall, exept for Blendshapes and the boring Node editor, and the lack of some DPont nodes, and the lack of easy animated UV groups)

We know why. . . there are numerous threads about why not and they are usually related with complex creature and character design for animation. Which is what I think Chris is after here.

And of course LW can always be used strictly as a rendering environment.

**Chris Jones** · 11-21-2013, 07:22 AM

Originally Posted by lardbros

I'm pretty certain nothing plugged directly into the 'Surface' node will have an effect if you're using a material node. Not 100% sure it's the same with all of them, but pretty certain it is with reflections.

Yeah I had that plugged in before I started adding materials and such. I thought I'd better leave it there in case it was doing something, since I found that bump does have an effect when plugged directly into Surface, strangely enough.

**lardbros** · 11-21-2013, 07:23 AM

Yeah, you're right... had a feeling one of them worked, and bump it is! Weird inconsistency.

**RT-4-777** · 11-22-2013, 05:48 AM

Doggone it, Chris Jones, you've done it again! This is superb work.

**bobakabob** · 11-22-2013, 01:43 PM

Originally Posted by RT-4-777

Doggone it, Chris Jones, you've done it again! This is superb work.

Agree, inspirational. I love seeing LW pushed to the limit like this with such amazing results.

**erikals** · 12-02-2013, 10:29 PM

you could try LightWave 10 content > Mutant
though might not be the quality you are looking for... (no sss)

**erikals** · 12-09-2013, 03:47 AM

as far as SSS goes and transparency, maybe this could be of use?
note, not sure though...

Lightwave plugin - Material Splitter Node
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s45bF27iAKU

download >
http://forums.newtek.com/showthread....l=1#post501080