User manual NEWTEK LIGHTWAVE 3D 7.5 ADDENDUM

[. . . ] LightWave 3D 7. 5 Update This publication, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form, by any method, for any purpose without prior written consent of NewTek Europe. San Antonio, TX 78249 USA 1-800 TOASTER (210) 370 8000 www. newtek. com NewTek Europe SARL Europarc 17 avenue Léonard de Vinci 33600 Pessac France +33 (0)5 57 262 262 www. newtek-europe. com Manual version: 1. 0 L I G H T WAV E 3 D 7 . 5 U P D AT E 7 L ightWave 3D 7. 5 Update NOTE You may need to assign some new commands to your menu or keyboard shortcuts before you can use them. VIEWPORT CHANGES The PathTool The PathTool will allow you to directly edit the current item's motion path, right in a Layout viewport!To use, simply activate the PathTool and drag any of the current item's keys. [. . . ] You can get a much better idea of what we are talking about here by choosing Layout > Commands > Command History. You will see commands whiz by as you click buttons and drag scene items. Here, you can see not only the command names, but also any parameters. You'll also see some commands that are not listed in the keyboard shortcut and menu configuration panels, like "Position" and "Rotation. " Figure 38: The Command History window What are Powergons Powergons allow you to execute a short Layout command script, which is attached to selected polygons in Modeler. You can use this feature to quickly add, say, lights using polygons for positioning. NOTE Once the script is executed in Layout, you can clear the object if it is unneeded otherwise. However, the default command parents the lights to the object, so be careful since you don't want to delete the children. To Attach Commands To attach a Powergon command script to polygons, first select the target polygons in Modeler. Returns the position of the polygon's center in the form "x y z". Returns the item ID of the object containing the polygon. 32 L I G H T W A V E 3 D 7 . 5 U P D A T E \n \r Returns the polygon's normal converted into heading, pitch and bank angles (bank is always 0) in the form "h p b". Creates a line return to signify the end of the current command and the start of the next. Note that it is not needed at the very end of the last command. The default command is "AddSpotlight LGON\rPosition \c\rRotation \n\rParentItem \i\rCreateKey 0". This adds a spotlight named LGON, positions it at the center of the polygon, rotates it to match the polygon's normal, parents the light to the object, and creates a keyframe at frame 0. Figure 39: The Add PowerGon dialog Once you click OK, the command script is attached to the selected polygons. (Technically, this action adds a PWRG type polygon tag to the polygons. ) To Clear Commands To clear Powergon commands from polygons, simply select the polygons and choose Construct > Additional > ClearPowergons. Activate the General Powergon option and click OK. Executing the Commands Once the Powergon commands are attached, load the object into Layout. This executes any command scripts attached to the selected object. L I G H T W A V E 3 D 7 . 5 U P D A T E 33 LUXIGONS Luxigons are very similar to Powergons, but are specialized just to add lights and set certain light properties. To use, in Modeler select the desired polygons and choose Construct > Additional > AddLuxigon. When the dialog appears, select the type of light you wish to add and set its properties. Figure 40: The Add Luxigon dialog Next, load the object into Layout and choose Scene > Generics > ConvertLuxigons. If you wish to use an existing light's properties, select it in the Clone Item pop-up menu. After you click OK, the defined lights will be created, positioned at the center of the appropriate polygons, aligned with the polygon's normal, and parented to the object. Figure 41: Converted Luxigons attached to a simple ball You can clear Luxigons from selected polygons using the Construct > Additional > ClearPowergons command. 34 L I G H T W A V E 3 D 7 . 5 U P D A T E KEYFRAMER Keyframer is essentially a collection of keyframing utilities. [. . . ] In the white slice window, there will be at least one vertical cut line. When there are multiple cut lines, only one is selected at any one time and it is orange colored. When the Operation pop-up menu is set to Add, you can click in the slice window to add more cut lines. The Preset pop-up menu lets you go back to the last cut line set up used when that Preset was selected. L I G H T W A V E 3 D 7 . [. . . ]