Any recent info/rumors on LW 2021/22 ?

[stef3d]

Newtek & VizRT had better prepare a very big surprise if LW is not dead ! A lot of delay was taken compared to free competition ! This remains possible, the heart of LW remains solid, but it is a big job of optimization, simplification & performance to attract new users ! The future will tell us, hope is life, since the Amiga we have learned that patience is important, but our dreams must remain realistic ! In any case, it's either a big surprise to come, or a big disappointment ! Strange that Newtek & VizRT does not give clues, surely the law of the market, do not devalue software & continue to make a little money .. Problem being that it can continue like that for years ! With small patches ! Unfortunately for me they don't know more than we do ! It is a risky & important investment, without significant support from a third party, it may be complicated ! Like everyone else, I can only recommend learning another software for safety, and it's always good to have several strings to your bow ! Although I think the loyal community will be there to support LW all the way ! LW Powa !

 

[chunderburger]

A "developer document" is not extraordinary. Nor is it extraordinary that bugs are not fixed in the present release. There's not really a legal obligation for a developer to provide continued product development after a sale. Issues can be collected for resolution in the next release.

I have also used the system at lightwave3d.com to report malware on ftp.newtek.com/pub/LightWave/Tutorials/modeling that remains a year later. That's one of those "no-brainer" things that a company should not ignore.

any detail on the malware?

 

[raymondtrace]

any detail on the malware?

You can paste the ftp.newtek.com address I previously posted in your web browser to observe it (just don't download everything from that directory index without security software). It has been a while since I looked but I believe the original malware may be the file from 2018. The *.scr and *.lnk files from May 2020 are the extracted product of the malware...and malware as well.

 

[OFF]

it seems Otoy has stopped developing the Octane plugin for Lightwave. A new version of Octane was released, before that, beta versions of plugins were released for all programs except LW. The Otoy leadership remains as silent on this score as the Newtek/ Vizrt leadership. Their moms and dads weren't taught to be truthful? Or do they think that by doing this to one part of their clients, they are not instilling certain fears in all their other clients? (rhetorical questions) ..

 

[prometheus]

That I could see coming for quite a while, and if its a case of them believing the LW development has stopped or isn´t there to help Otoy with their plugin, why shouldn´t they discontinue octane.
Also why I wouldn´t invest in octane for Lightwave, or Lightwave itself for that matter.

 

[Rayek]

it seems Otoy has stopped developing the Octane plugin for Lightwave. A new version of Octane was released, before that, beta versions of plugins were released for all programs except LW. The Otoy leadership remains as silent on this score as the Newtek/ Vizrt leadership. Their moms and dads weren't taught to be truthful? Or do they think that by doing this to one part of their clients, they are not instilling certain fears in all their other clients? (rhetorical questions) ..

Can you blame them? Other LW plugin developers and companies using LightWave have tried contacting Newtek, and received no response. Because Newtek remains stoically silent on the future of LightWave, more and more developers and users have left. So how is Otoy supposed to react? I wouldn't be surprised to learn that Otoy attempted to contact Newtek for more information or assistance in the past few years, and got zero replies.

No-one to blame but Newtek/Vizrt here. Their management should grow up instead of hiding behind corporate walls and just tell its users where things stand.

But I agree that it would be the nice thing to do if Otoy would just be clear about it, and officially call it a day for LightWave, if that is the case. Perhaps they are still waiting for an answer from Newtek, or waiting for ANY activity on the part of Newtek.

 

[prometheus]

Can you blame them? Other LW plugin developers and companies using LightWave have tried contacting Newtek, and received no response. Because Newtek remains stoically silent on the future of LightWave, more and more developers and users have left. So how is Otoy supposed to react? I wouldn't be surprised to learn that Otoy attempted to contact Newtek for more information or assistance in the past few years, and got zero replies.

No-one to blame but Newtek/Vizrt here. Their management should grow up instead of hiding behind corporate walls and just tell its users where things stand.

But I agree that it would be the nice thing to do if Otoy would just be clear about it, and officially call it a day for LightWave, if that is the case. Perhaps they are still waiting for an answer from Newtek, or waiting for ANY activity on the part of Newtek.

Agree,

if octane is shut down, that should serve as incitament for Newtek/Vizrt to develop the render engine with an option to use GPU, then again that assumes they truly have the intention to develop Lightwave further and can get a new Development team in place.
On the other hand, if such case scenario rises, then Otoy may be back in the game with that plugin.

 

[erikals]

...we wait...

 

[OFF]

Aha, Jules Urbach confirm:
Lightwave plugin is no longer being actively updated by Juanjo - we may update it in the future if Lightwave gets updated, but TBH LW looks like it's going xsi routine.

 

[Lewis]

Can you blame them? Other LW plugin developers and companies using LightWave have tried contacting Newtek, and received no response. Because Newtek remains stoically silent on the future of LightWave, more and more developers and users have left. So how is Otoy supposed to react? I wouldn't be surprised to learn that Otoy attempted to contact Newtek for more information or assistance in the past few years, and got zero replies.

No-one to blame but Newtek/Vizrt here. Their management should grow up instead of hiding behind corporate walls and just tell its users where things stand.

But I agree that it would be the nice thing to do if Otoy would just be clear about it, and officially call it a day for LightWave, if that is the case. Perhaps they are still waiting for an answer from Newtek, or waiting for ANY activity on the part of Newtek.

Well in theory that would be OK BUT they charged users for Subscription/maintenance and many payed for 2 years in advance and got 1 year or no year of updates. I have friend who updated octane plugin recently and he will not get updates, so what did he pay for then ?

That is the problem with Rental/Maintenance software. So basically OTOY did not respect their part of deal with "continuos updates"....

 

[juanjgon]

I could say the same here, but I prefer to leave it in the Otoy forum. Thanks!

View topic - LW 2021 plugin, where are you?

View topic - LW 2021 plugin, where are you?

render.otoy.com

-Juanjo

 

[Rayek]

Thus endeth the era of LightWave and dusk shall fade into night. All things end, yet new beginnings arise at the first light of dawn. As it ever has been, and will be.

 

[Gungho3D]

I think the setting sun has been casting long shadows for years - particularly how communication (from Oldtek/Vis-something) has been non-existent for millennia. If you plan to bury a product in slow motion, someone should do a PhD on the subject and use these guys as exibit 'A' on how to do it.

I saw Kelly Myers on Linked-IN earlier today putting up a brave fight: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/updat...vity:6859402009691398144,6859720774241009664)

While I may not have gathered a huge amount of "friends" on this forum, still, like someone else has pointed out, some of us have been here for ages. The collective "how to" expertise (although much of that "has left the building") has been significant.

I think I'll miss the face slapping camaraderie ... almost (I did say almost) like family of a sort.

---------------------------
Ok, enough bleeding. I need to ask an important question: I've been thinking about upgrading to (let me spell it out in full) Blender - any thoughts
---------------------------

And Newtek, shame on you if you delete the above.

 

[Rayek]

Ok, enough bleeding. I need to ask an important question: I've been thinking about upgrading to (let me spell it out in full) Blender - any thoughts

Never been a better time to make the switch to Blender, in particular with the upcoming v3 release around the corner. You will like many things, and vice versa you will have to get used to a different way of thinking compared to LW as well. It's best to do a small but exhaustive project in B to find your bearings.

The new roadmap was just posted: https://code.blender.org/2021/10/blender-3-x-roadmap/
Good times. You will be shocked by the openness of communication between the Blender Foundation, its developers, and the users compared to Newtek. I met and talked shop with Ton and the developers at various occasions this past decade, and they're super friendly and engaging.

Check out the Blender Cloud, and perhaps consider signing up to sponsor Blender's development. I did along time ago, and the information and files on there are very helpful and interesting. Where else can you get direct insight at the production side of things and access the production files (but being in a production yourself ;-) )?

The LW2B Facebook group may be helpful:

Log into Facebook

Log into Facebook to start sharing and connecting with your friends, family, and people you know.

www.facebook.com

Also, look into Houdini as a companion app. Blender and Houdini make a good combo, and the indie version of Houdini is very affordable. Word of warning: Houdini takes some getting used to . But where Blender stops, Houdini starts, and vice versa. They complement each other nicely, in my opinion.

If you already render your work in a different render engine (such as Octane, or so) chances are you can continue using that render engine in Blender. Definitely look into Eevee for some realtime rendering goodness, and into alternatives like Renderman, ProRender, and LuxCoreRender. Or even Redshift, which is now also available for Blender. Or Vray. Sky is the limit, lots of choices.

Avoid pouring too much time or money initially into purchasing all sorts of add-ons: most add-ons merely package existing functionality in a wrapper of increased usability. That said, a few commercial plugins do make life so much better (Hardops and BoxCutter for hard surface modeling, for example). Don't forget to check out the free collection of built-in addons. Many are great, if not essential. A few free plugins make life much easier for users coming from other DCCs: Kekit, TexTools, UVPackMaster, Miratools, WMesh, - all free.

That should get you started. Enjoy the ride!

 

[RPSchmidt]

Well in theory that would be OK BUT they charged users for Subscription/maintenance and many payed for 2 years in advance and got 1 year or no year of updates. I have friend who updated octane plugin recently and he will not get updates, so what did he pay for then ?

That is the problem with Rental/Maintenance software. So basically OTOY did not respect their part of deal with "continuos updates"....

QFT.

This is especially true of dependence-based subscription software... software that is reliant on another software to perform its function.

This is the reason I abandoned Red Giant after Maxon bought them and they went subscription. By itself, the Red Giant Complete is useless... they are plugins to a software they are dependent on to perform their function.

When you also consider that they charge as much for Red Giant Complete as Adobe charges for CC, it is nonsensical.

 

[prometheus]

Maybe I should put myself in a Lightwave cocoon hybernation state...
Which means some years avoiding slow renders and learning something else faster, and by the time you feel the urge to activate yourself with any Lightwave work..you can have saved money for a new better pc and consequently faster LW renders, or the situation may have changed for Lightwave development..though the shore´s can´t bee seen anywhere for the moment.

 

[mav3rick]

I think its about time for someone at newtek or vizrt remove PURCHASE button from lightwave3d.com and call it abandon.
This kind of silence definately makes it hard for us small companies to think about our future steps.. i have just paid extend of my Octane maintenance support just to hear there will be NO new LW version... and no i dont use any other OCTANE plugin nor i have intention for next year.

 

[prometheus]

I think its about time for someone at newtek or vizrt remove PURCHASE button from lightwave3d.com and call it abandon.
This kind of silence definately makes it hard for us small companies to think about our future steps.. i have just paid extend of my Octane maintenance support just to hear there will be NO new LW version... and no i dont use any other OCTANE plugin nor i have intention for next year.

Why would they do that? they still can sell it though not developed.
But I understand the frustration, it´s absolutely (stunning) that they despite all the fuzz in here and people leaving to other software..Still doesn´t care about changing the philosophy to at least state, Yes..we will continue development or sell it to some other company..in such case they know very well they aren´t gonna continue with it..also simply state it is discontinued.

They would save themself trouble and us users the trouble and time, had they only be honestly up front with the situation.

 

[mav3rick]

Why would they do that? they still can sell it though not developed.
But I understand the frustration, it´s absolutely (stunning) that they despite all the fuzz in here and people leaving to other software..Still doesn´t care about changing the philosophy to at least state, Yes..we will continue development or sell it to some other company..in such case they know very well they aren´t gonna continue with it..also simply state it is discontinued.

They would save themself trouble and us users the trouble and time, had they only be honestly up front with the situation.

well they dont provide even bug fixes or SDK updates that OTOY obviously need to continue updating.. meaning LW IS DEAD. XSI died pretty much same way but with major difference.... i dont see PURCHASE button anymore and autodesk was kind enough to say goodbye to users by offering last version and support for year later.
NT/VIZ neither communicated about lw future and they still sell it but not offering support for it.. i am not sure but END USER policy is not one way street .. theres some rules that apply to both sides... as for lw .. i can see only NT/VIZ side and not customer care they have to offer.

 

[prometheus]

well they dont provide even bug fixes or SDK updates that OTOY obviously need to continue updating.. meaning LW IS DEAD. XSI died pretty much same way but with major difference.... i dont see PURCHASE button anymore and autodesk was kind enough to say goodbye to users by offering last version and support for year later.
NT/VIZ neither communicated about lw future and they still sell it but not offering support for it.. i am not sure but END USER policy is not one way street .. theres some rules that apply to both sides... as for lw .. i can see only NT/VIZ side and not customer care they have to offer.

I kind of agree with you..I was reacting a bit from what I think could be their perspective, but just that they can still sell what is there, as long as they are open about this is the final version.
Apart from that, leaving it as it is today isn´t very customer friendly, nor reputation friendly towards themself in the end.

Legally what they can do or can´t do? That I do not know..I would suspect they can get away with this kind of silent policy though even if the case would be that they know very well that it has come to an end, if that is the case that is.