Lightwave gpu renderer?

[MichaelBeckwith]

...aren't there certain effects that GPU rendering cannot do? I remember reading something about that a few years back - don't remember the details, but it was on the list of why CPU rendering can be preferable.

Here is a link to the Corona Renderer which explains why somethings are better when using the CPU https://corona-renderer.com/features/proudly-cpu-based

[genesis1]

Seems no one is much interested in a render plugin for LW. I was so dissapointed when the pixar renderman plugin got dropped in favour of octane. I can understand why on a financial basis, but it was sad.
All I want really is a gpu renderer for native lightwave without learning new nodes. Alas, it seems after so long it will never be.
I still love LW and will continue using it, but it is painfully slow against other software.

[Nicolas Jordan]

We also see evidence of where certain devs went after LW. One particular dev is working for a GPU render application now. It is unlikely that position was given to someone who had no GPU render dev experience.

Yes Mark Granger works at OTOY now.

[prometheus]

Yes Mark Granger works at OTOY now.

Why o why is the big ..why?
Rat´s leaving a sinking ship, or environment to unfriendly to work in..and a lot of other speculative causes for anyone to pick, and the big question goes to vizrt, what did we learn from that, to forget and leave everything, or to recall and improve and invest again.

[prometheus]

Seems no one is much interested in a render plugin for LW. I was so dissapointed when the pixar renderman plugin got dropped in favour of octane. I can understand why on a financial basis, but it was sad.
All I want really is a gpu renderer for native lightwave without learning new nodes. Alas, it seems after so long it will never be.
I still love LW and will continue using it, but it is painfully slow against other software.

Not true, cycles was on the carpet, but it never took off..developer who started it may had undertaken a too big project for it, it didn´t go anywhere so far anyway, who knows if he picks it up again, but I was all for it, and so where many others.

[raymondtrace]

Yes Mark Granger works at OTOY now.

Whoops. He wasn't even the one I was thinking of. I guess we're up to at least 3 of the LW crew now at OTOY.

[jwiede]

Whoops. He wasn't even the one I was thinking of. I guess we're up to at least 3 of the LW crew now at OTOY.

Four now, at least: Lino G, the Metamorphic guy (Jay/Jamil H), Mark G, and now Antti J (according to his LI profile).

[Nicolas Jordan]

Four now, at least: Lino G, the Metamorphic guy (Jay/Jamil H), Mark G, and now Antti J (according to his LI profile).

I kinda thought if they had room for Antti he would end up there as well. A nice little group of former Lightwave devs there now I guess.

[[email protected]]

Glad that they are gainfully employed doing what they enjoy.

[TheLexx]

The time for GPU rendering might have been the silence between 2015-2018 when they did rewrite the renderer, but kept it to CPU. Newtek did subsequently look at AMD ProRender because this was mentioned within the last year or so by a guest on the Steve Burns Twitch broadcast (possibly Deuce, my memory hazy), but obviously not promised. I think LW has the mentality of being CPU efficient, backwards compatibility, older machines, etc. I'm not sure how LW minimum specs compare to other 3D minimum specs but I suspect it is lighter ? Something could still emerge via Vizrt...could..

[Tim Parsons]

All I want really is a gpu renderer for native lightwave without learning new nodes.

Download the demo of Octane if you really want to stay with LW and see how it works for you. It's pretty easy to come to grips with. I don't use it, but if I needed the speed and wanted to stay with LW that's really the only option. The node system isn't too bad.

[erikals]

GPU was the next move from what i read. (sorry, missing link)

2 late now.





to add; we're lucky tho' with AMD is kickin' these days...

[Marander]

Here is a link to the Corona Renderer which explains why somethings are better when using the CPU https://corona-renderer.com/features/proudly-cpu-based

Yes and unlike the LightWave render engine, Corona Render is very successful because

- it's easy to use
- it's stable
- it's fast (for a CPU engine)
- it delivers outstanding quality

There would have been a lot to learn for LW. Well too late now.

The only negative thing about Corona Render is the rental licensing in my opinion.

[Marander]

... LW has the mentality of being CPU efficient, backwards compatibility, older machines, etc. I'm not sure how LW minimum specs compare to other 3D minimum specs but I suspect it is lighter ? Something could still emerge via Vizrt...could..

I'm glad you mention this because backwards compatibility was indeed a plus for LW in the past.

But no more, the latest LW release is not supported anymore on simple machines like laptops without a dedicated graphics card.

This was confirmed by LW support. And they didn't even bother looking into that further (no crash analysis done etc).

While all other 3D apps work on these devices, only LW doesn't.

For example LW 2020 works on my XPS15 with Nvidia GPU but crashes on the XPS13 with 8th Gen Core i7 16GB without dedicated GPU where all other apps work just fine (except GPU-only stuff like RedShift of course).

Another NewTek / VizRT failure. I don't know which one of them is worse but they seem to fit each other well.

[erikals]

Corona Render

perhaps check Kray