LightWave™ NEWSLETTER
ONLINE EDITION
May - 2010
In this edition:
- Update from Jay Roth
- Project news: Repo Men
- Picture of the Month
- Turbulence 4D plug-in
- Mr. Rid Elevator of Blood
- Project news: Raven
May 2010 Update Letter from Jay Roth, President of the 3D Division NewTek, to the NewTek LightWave 3D Community
May 10, 2010
Dear LightWave® Community,
Momentum is building as SIGGRAPH 2010 returns to the heart of the entertainment universe - Los Angeles. The buzz around the release of "Avatar" on DVD, has kept NewTek's Rob Powers, supervisor of the Virtual Art Department (VAD) for the movie, extremely busy, here at NewTek. Discussions continue on the making of Pandora, the implementation of VAD, and the role LightWave 3D® played in the creation of "Avatar," at events like the BritWeek Film & TV Summit, hosted by Variety and Screen magazines, and FatFreeFilm: The Indie Film Podcast.
The path to SIGGRAPH is keeping us busy. While development continues at a furious pace, Rob and the marketing group are developing stories on all of the amazing projects that are created using current and earlier versions of LightWave. "Avatar" is a prime example. Another example is the recent sci-fi action thriller, "Repo Men," where Hollywood-based Creative Character Engineering used LightWave to design the artificial 3D organs for the movie. From concept art, to physical 3D parts, and working in inventory control with dime-size barcodes; what artists can accomplish using LightWave 3D is mindboggling. See the exclusive article in this newsletter.
Our latest achievements in LightWave 3D with CORE Technology involve our new deformation pipeline, which works in concert with the modifier stack. The first deformer to receive this treatment is the bend deformer, intended to give you the results you expect, the first time you use it. You can animate the deformer, of course, or pile deformers on top of each other, rearrange them as needed, and so on.
Another area receiving a lot of attention is the selection process. We used the Layout and Modeler selection methods as a starting point, added to that, and expanded upon how someone can define their own behaviors for mouse key handling, etc. You'll have more access to the selection engine, allowing you to tune it as you want, so you can make it work your way, directly.
In other LightWave 3D development, Jawset revealed its Turbulence plug-in for LightWave 3D v9.6, with a CORE version forthcoming. This is really exciting, as most of you have wanted a fluid dynamics option for some time, and Jawset's is rather amazing, not to mention the fact that it works in Layout, which means you can use it immediately. See our interview in this newsletter.
Be HardCORE
To date, release cycles to the HardCORE community have been every few weeks. If you're not currently a HardCORE member, now is an opportune time to join. You'll get the most up-to-the-minute news about LightWave development, well in advance of the general LightWave population. You'll also receive a substantial savings on software. HardCORE members have a voice in the community, and are key influencers in the development of LightWave technology, so join today to take full advantage of HardCORE member benefits.
Over the past months, Rob Powers and Chuck Baker have been contributing great ideas to the plans for what NewTek will unveil for LightWave this year. I am taking a leave of absence, so, I want to let you know you are in great hands with Rob and Chuck who are managing development while I am on leave. For more details from NewTek, CLICK HERE.
Our commitment to deliver dynamic new features in LightWave 3D with CORE Technology remains steadfast, as we continue to innovate its functionality. Keep your feedback coming, as we work together to further develop LightWave's Emmy® Award-winning performance and benefits, making it more powerful than ever for, you, the artist.
Jay Roth
President, 3D Division
NewTek, Inc.
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| Practical model of artificial heart, image courtesy of CCE. | |
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| Bar code detail, with dime in place to show size, image courtesy of CCE. | |
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| Artificial heart in LightWave Modeler, image courtesy of CCE. | |
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| Artificial liver in LightWave Modeler, image courtesy of CCE. |
In this movie version of our future, humans have become dependent on expensive mechanical organs, created by a company called "The Union." Repossession agents are sent out to collect these organs when the customers can't pay their bill. The gruesome results of these encounters, and how they affect the parties involved, are cleverly presented with some great practical FX work that finds its genesis in LightWave 3D.
Since these repossessed organs played a fundamental role in the storytelling, the production crew needed convincing models that not only looked cool, but were also a believable piece of machinery. This particular task warranted a call to Andrew Clement, owner and founder of the LA-based company, Creative Character Engineering, to take on the responsibility of creating props for the hi-tech body parts.
A LightWave user since version 4, Andrew's CG work can be seen in TV shows like, "Hercules" and "Xena" and the feature film, "Blade." His practical FX work can be seen on recent TV shows like, "Dexter" and "Grey's Anatomy," as well as feature films like, "Cloverfield" and "Star Trek."
We were fortunate enough to speak to Andrew about LightWave 3D's involvement with the creation of the props, and he stressed the importance of making it part of his regular production pipeline. When we asked why, he had lots to say:
"LightWave is extremely easy to use. It has a full-featured modeler, solid animation tools, and what I think is the best bundled render engine out there. I usually do the CG work alone or with a small crew, and I'm able to get an extremely professional result, without a lot of mucking about. I can set things up myself from start to finish, and then choose how much tweaking I can afford, without wasting a lot of time up-front. Also, LightWave has unlimited render nodes, which means if you spend as much money as I do keeping a small studio afloat, with the dozens of small software licenses that I need to keep current, having free render nodes is a big deal!"
The process in creating these models starts in LightWave 3D, where Modeler's ability to determine the proper sizing of the material comes in handy, so that its eventual 3D print will be accurate, down to the millimeter. "It was a definite time-saver. Because I built these models in LightWave, I could separate each organ into parts that I could print individually," says Clement, "and I knew they would fit together easily, and perfectly. It made building the more complex organs a much easier task than it would be, if I were to just start sculpting and testing."
Once the models, based off of the studio concept art, were built in LightWave 3D, the .obj files were then run through Right Hemisphere's Deep Exploration, to obtain the .stl files that would be printed out, re-molded, hand-sculpted for finer detail, and eventually plated and finished.
Each organ has a tiny barcode engraved on the main housing, about the size of a dime, but smaller. The challenge to create such fine detail without spending eye-straining sculpting time, was yet another quick-fix in LightWave 3D ."We had the images of the barcodes created in Illustrator," describes Clement, "and brought those into LightWave, where we extruded the shapes onto the model."
When asked about the future of this medium, Andrew had this to say, "From prototyping, to concept art, to asset delivery, it's all digital. Even though I love handcrafting something, I have no problem sitting down at a CG workstation when I need to. It's just another tool, especially now that I can translate what's onscreen to a tangible part."
See more of Andrew Clement's work at the Creative Character Engineering website.
Elvis "Lewis" Blazencic is one of LightWave's best-known car modelers. His latest creation is a customized Corvette C6, a striking model and even more dynamic in the poses Lewis has chosen for it. Without a doubt, it is the newsletter's Picture of the Month. We asked Lewis about this car:
So tell me about the 789 project you started it in 2008. Why the long time?
Bob commissioned me to make several cars (he chose the models), and the deal was, to work on them when I didn't have too much other work. Obviously I had too much other work! Also, for this car - a Corvette C6, customized by a company called n2amotors.com, the interior was tough to do, and I wanted to make it in full detail, since I'm a sucker for details and precision. Another reason I chose this car is that I have an actual Corvette C6 model, about 80 percent done (it just needs wheels and some textures), so I can reuse this interior.
What number car is this for you?
I once had a spreadsheet with stats (I don't know where it is on 9 HDDs), but it's out of date now. I think I'm close to around 115-120 models.
Do you always work in subpatches?
Ninety-five percent of my cars are in subpatches. It's only when I do low poly/games models, that it's all regular polys. As for CCs, I don't use them in Modeler; although I'd love to, because they are too slow for me, and still present some problems with Knife, and some other tools.
Do you just work in 64-bit now?
I model in 32-bit, all the time. 32-bit Modeler can use 4GB RAM in a 64-bit OS, so there are no problems with millions of polys. Many plug-ins, like Pictrix tools for snapping, are still 32-bit only, so it's not really an option for me to go to 64-bit for modeling, but my rendering is 64-bit, all the way.
You can see more views of Lewis' 789 project on the forum thread.
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| TFD is designed for optimal scalability with respect to increasing resolution as well as number of CPU cores. | |
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| TFD provides intuitive volume shading controls. |
One obvious aspect was that LightWave had a free spot for a fluid plug-in, like Turbulence. Since Turbulence is developed with a Public Beta version, the very active community was a factor, as well. Development of CORE Technology provides a perspective for the future, beyond the next 2-3 years.
Fluid simulation touches several aspects of a CG pipeline: surfaces and particles as inputs and interacting objects, animation, shading, lighting and post-effects. Therefore, the modularity and extensibility of the 3D-framework, is an important factor. The evolution from "customizable toolkit," to "CG operating system" with an abstract component system like CORE, helps specialized solutions like Turbulence, to avoid re-inventing or stretching 3D-framework code.
Why did you start with a 64-bit version, rather than the more popular 32-bit Windows version?
Code-wise, both versions are identical. So both versions are actually developed at the same time. It's merely the release process that made the initial 32-bit Beta version appear two days later. However, 64-bit is the recommended architecture for professional operation of a fluid simulator. When you are working on high quality simulations, you can easily reach the memory limit in a 32-bit application.
Will there be a 64-bit Mac version, too?
Yes.
Turbulence is available in a limited demo version of the beta (camera resolution for animation can't exceed any variation on 480x360), from the jawset website, and is available for purchase at a special introductory price, while in beta.
David Ridlen, aka Mr. Rid on the LightWave forums, recently shared with us, a personal project he'd been working on, in his spare time. Using a combination of LightWave 3D, RealFlow and Fusion 6, this visually striking re-creation of a classic shot from the film, "The Shining," was created after a couple of months of calculations, and many test renders. "I never expected it to look exactly like the real thing, or to have taken it this far," says David, a professional LightWaver since 1995, whose work can be seen in major motion pictures like "Sin City" and the video game cut scenes of "Medal of Honor" and "Ninja Gaiden."
David used LightWave v9.6 to create the models of the furniture and hallways, as well as the rendering of the final images; with post processing applied in Fusion 6, in an attempt to make the clip resemble the original film. "Now that digital is here, I'm going to miss grunging up CG to make it look like film," joked Ridlen.
When asked if it really did take a month to calculate the fluid simulations in RealFlow, David shares his experience with us, "I spent a few hours most days, trying different simulations, and letting them run overnight. When I first filled the elevator with 1.6 million particles, it took a week for them to settle and stop sloshing around. It then took a week to calculate the 535 frame spill, the resulting particle bin files, taking up 162 GB. In LightWave, the 720x480 frames averaged 20 minutes a frame, which took another week, eating up all 12 GB of RAM at the peak, and going about 4 GB into virtual. It then took another week to render the overhead shot."
Although being a big fan of the film that this clip inspired, had a lot to do with why he spent all of those hours working on it, the genesis of this time-consuming project is something else, altogether. "I started thinking about rendering this, after viewing a YouTube video titled 'THE SHINING - SOMETHING IN THE RIVER OF BLOOD,' where the author presents a lengthy assertion on some obscure shapes, viewable within the blood ."
This video, and the comments that it inspired, got David's wheels turning, "It was apparent to me that the shapes are merely reflections of the set, and I e-mailed the author a simple CG still, demonstrating that fact; but his ego defended the presence of mysterious objects."
He thought it would be interesting to see what RealFlow might do, and was surprised to find that no one else had attempted a Shining-blood-elevator sim before. His curiosity led to this fantastic piece of work, as well as a video rebuttal.
"Oddly enough, very similar 'shapes' turn up in this CG render as they do in the movie, since they are simply the distorted reflections of the elevator door, surrounding frame, and wall. But hey, people prefer the mysterious."
Check out the thread David started on the NewTek forum for more detail.
Making waves as soon as it hit the Internet; the kinetic, action-packed short, "THE RAVEN," has turned many heads with its slick visuals. Being heralded as "the next District 9," the buzz-worthy, six-minute short, moves at a steady clip, barely giving the audience a chance to breathe, with a climax that leaves the watcher wanting more.
The film, directed by Ricardo de Montreuil, was shot over two days in downtown Los Angeles, for a budget of $5000, and in looking at it, you'd think that's a huge discount for what they ended up with. The presentation is top-notch, partly due to the use of LightWave 3D, as a major tool in the production pipeline.
Juan Somarriba, of Miami's Pixelhangar, modeled and animated the Rumbler and the Tank, using LightWave 9.6 for the Mac. "LightWave's speed, and the quality of its render engine were the key decisions in choosing to use the software for this project," said Somarriba, a LightWave user since 2001. He began creating the prominently featured CG Models in December of 2009, and started to animate them once the footage was available, in early February of 2010.
"All together, it took about four months to complete the 46 shots," says Somarriba. "For the rendering, we used LightWave's radiosity with HDRI maps, taken from the RAVEN sets on location."
The popularity of the short is gaining momentum, as proven by the 2400+ fans on the film's official Facebook page, at the time this was written.
Discussion thread for this edition of the newsletter is on the NewTek forum
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