LightWave 3D 8 1001 Tips & Tricks phần 5 pps

But using an inci-dence angle gradient texture looks better for cartoon-style animation because, nomatter what angle the surface is to the camera, you will always get the samedegree of r

areas of the surface Camera Incidence will put the color on the edges of the face where the polygons are sloping away from the viewer.

sur-Camera Incidence looks better than you might think because the lightededges show up better in areas that are darker

There’s just a little savings in render time — about 4% — over using tworim lights with shadows as the only ray tracing option on But using an inci-dence angle gradient texture looks better for cartoon-style animation because, nomatter what angle the surface is to the camera, you will always get the samedegree of rim “lighting.” Also, you can easily give the edge effect a color with-out worrying about hot spots when the character moves

Versions: 5-8

530 Emanuele Salvucci | Gradients | Intermediate

Sepia-Tones Textures

You can easily remap a color texture using gradients and texture layers

To remap an image to sepia tones, for instance:

1 In the Color channel, add a texture using the “T” button

2 In the Texture Editor, choose and map the image

3 Add a new layer of type Gradient

4 Set Input Parameter to Previous Layer

5 Add a new gradient key by clicking on the gradient ramp

6 Set the new gradient key to 1.0 (Parameter = 1.0)

7 Set the color for the key at position 0 to 47, 34, 0

8 Set the color for the key at position 1 to 255, 222, 165

Having set the input parameter to Previous Layer, the gradient takes colorintensity values from the previous layer and uses them as key parameters Youcan remap images using as many keys and colors as you like

con-Versions: All

532 Kevin Phillips | Gradients | Beginner

Gradients and Negative Bump Maps

An interesting note if you are using gradients with a Bump input parameter

If you need your bump map to be subtractive rather then additive (i.e., dents, not

lumps for instance), then use a negative texture value, do not use the subtractive

blending mode or the gradient will not read the bump input values correctly

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Gradients

This works on LightWave 7.5c; however, reports seem to indicate that it maynot be the case in LW 8 Interesting…

Versions: 6-7.5c

533 Eki Halkka | Gradients | Beginner

Gradients Are Your Friend, Really!

I suggest spending some time learning about gradients Here are just a fewexamples of how they can be used:

Almost all surfaces are reflective, especially when looked at from low,glancing angles A piece of regular paper doesn’t seem to reflect at first, but ifyou look at it directly from the side, it does So, most surfaces benefit from anincidence angle gradient controlling reflection A shiny car surface could have90% start and 20% end values on the gradient, and the paper could have 5% startand 0% end values You can also copy this gradient to the Specularity channel,

as specular highlights are actually reflections of the LightWave lights

Snow and dust tends to gather on flat surfaces You can set up a slope ent in the Color channel to make a snowy surface for your landscape Set thestart color to white, and then add a pale blue key at 0.2 Set that key’s alphavalue to 0% You may wish to add one more key to make the transition slightlymore abrupt Ta da! Done

gradi-You can create a weight map in Modeler and use a gradient to apply textureparameters based on it This is often much easier than creating texture alphaimages

to remove the bump attribute from the surface, but the gradients will still behave

as if the bump texture is there

Versions: All

Texturing | 233Gradients

536 Leigh van der Byl | Procedurals | Beginner to Intermediate

Positioning Procedural Textures

Procedural textures in LightWave can be a very quick and efficient way tocreate detailed textures on your surfaces However, they can be tricky to posi-tion, since they are, by default, rendered over the entire surface

One method of controlling the visibility of procedurals is to use white images in the Texture Editor to mask them by blending the image abovethe procedural texture using the Alpha Blending Mode

black-and-The white areas of the image will allow the procedural texture to showthrough, while the black areas will mask it, as shown in the following image

234 | Chapter 5

Procedurals

Alternatively, another useful and intuitive method of masking procedurals is

to paint weight maps on the object that you use in conjunction with the WeightMap gradient, also blended with the Alpha mode Create a new weight map onyour object, and then paint areas of 100% onto areas where you would like theprocedural to show Set up a gradient layer in the Texture Editor using thisweight map, assign a white value to the 100% end of the gradient, and leave therest of the gradient black

Set this layer to Alpha Blending Mode, and make sure the layer is above theprocedural texture layer that you are wanting to mask

Rendering this object will

now show the procedural

tex-ture showing through the areas

that had a value of 100% in

the weight map, as shown in

the image on the right

Versions: 6.5-8

Texturing | 235Procedurals

537 Todd Grimes | Procedurals | Beginner

draw-To improve visual resolution at very close distances you can use a detail ture These are additional bitmaps or procedurals that come into play when thecamera reaches a certain distance from the object, to add small or even microdetails to the main texture It is possible to add as many detail textures asrequired by the situation

tex-Let’s make two detail textures for a concrete wall, mapped with a graph to act as the main bump pattern Start by creating a plane and adding it to

photo-an empty scene

1 Move the camera away from the object by 9 meters

2 Map an image texture on the Bump channel

3 Add a Procedural layer and choose a procedural texture

4 Add a Gradient layer and set Input Parameter to Distance to Camera

5 Set the Blending Mode to Alpha for the Gradient layer

6 Set the following parameter keys for the gradient:

9 Make a few test renders to adjust the Procedural parameter’s Scale values

10 To add the second detail texture, copy both the Gradient and the Procedurallayers and paste them using Add to Layers

11 Set the following parameter keys for the second gradient:

To make the “with and without test,” simply disable all layers in the Bumpchannel but the main texture image one.

By rendering the full scene you can see the details smoothly blending inwhile moving toward the wall

Now with the following steps, create the procedural rust material:

1 Create a quadrangle on the XZ plane and pass it to Layout

2 Map the grayscale texture to the first color layer and set the Blending Mode

to Texture Displacement

Texturing | 237Procedurals

3 Add a Gradient layer, leave the Blending Mode at Normal, set the InputParameter to Previous Layer, and create a transition using roughly the fol-lowing parameters:

Parameter = 0, Color (the original paint color)

parame-4 Add a Procedural layer if you’re not using UV mapping, drag it down to bethe last layer, and set Blending Mode to Texture Displacement

You can choose the procedural type you like the most, as this layer willfractalize the regular shape of the grayscale map Turbulence or FBM are recom-mended for this purpose though

I set the grayscale texture layer to Texture Displacement because it will have

no visible effect in this case, apart from being used by the color gradient.Now with a few test renders and adjusting the “rusting point” on the gradient

by shifting keys, the procedural rust is half done

To complete the surface, the same grayscale map and gradient can be used todefine local diffuse, specular, and bump properties

This technique can also be used to create worn metal on objects’ edges ply by setting the last gradient parameter to a mid-white color rather than using arusty one and by drawing the grayscale map on objects’ edges

sim-Versions: 6-8

540 Emanuele Salvucci | Procedurals | Intermediate

Shaping Objects with Bump Maps

Sometimes a simple procedural bump can shape objects as if they weremodeled

As usual, the only drawback is that bump mapping doesn’t affect an object’scontours (silhouette)

To experiment with “shaping bump” you just need a procedural textureapplied on the Bump channel

In the Texture Editor, setting Scale values similar to the size of the objectalong with setting low Frequency or few Octaves or low Contrast (depending onthe type of procedural you’re using) will turn a noisy fractal into a shapingtexture

238 | Chapter 5

Procedurals

Here’s an example of what a simple sphere can become just by applying aCyclone procedural on the Bump channel:

Parameters for the Cyclone procedural in this example are:

541 Gerald Abraham | Procedurals | Beginner

Coloring for Simplicity

When layering procedurals on top of one another, start by setting an initialcolor different from the previous layer even if, ultimately, you intend to give lay-ers similar shades This will make adjusting the shape and scale of a layersimpler

Versions: All

542 Emanuele Salvucci | Procedurals | Intermediate

Metallic Car Paint

One of the problems with metallic paint is reproducing the little shiny dotswhile keeping specular highlights and reflections smooth and clean Metallicpaint in reality involves surface irregularities so that light is reflected differentlyfrom each dot from the same point of view In 3D this equals “surface normalsperturbation” simply known as “bump.” But bump actually affects diffuse, spec-ular, reflection, and refraction, and we certainly don’t want this on a smooth carbody

We can actually reproduce the effect on the Color channel alone, thus notaffecting or applying anything else on the surface

The best procedural texture to reproduce sparse dots is the Crust texture Ourcolor channel will be made up of four layers as follows:

Layer 1 — A gradient based on light incidence to modulate the overall shinydots effect

Layer 2 — A very small Crust procedural as a base for medium shiny dots

Texturing | 239Procedurals

Layer 3 — A Light Incidence gradient that works as an alpha to modulatethe fourth layer

Layer 4 — Another Crust procedural that is slightly bigger to create veryshiny dots around specular highlights

In the following images you can see the layers and parameters for eachlayer:

240 | Chapter 5

Procedurals

The first layer is a reddish gradient because it also gives color to the grayCrust procedurals below it.

To simulate the internal light transmission due to the shiny dots you can setLuminosity at 15% on the Surface Editor and add a last red Gradient layeralways based on Light Incidence that adds red color on top of everything:

Texturing | 241Procedurals

Finally, here’s how it looks:

Versions: 6-8

543 Rob Powers | Procedurals | Beginner

Changing Procedural Colors

Right-click the procedural texture thumbnail window to quickly change thebackground color in the procedural texture

Versions: 6-8

242 | Chapter 5

Procedurals

544 Kevin Phillips | Procedurals | Beginner

Great Veins of FBM

For effects such as organic veins, electricity, cracks in rocks, lava flows and

more, try the FBM texture (not FBM Noise) By changing its Contrast value to

90% and inverting it, you can create these kinds of effects very easily Alteringits Small Power setting to a lower value will simplify the lines, and setting ithigher will add more random twists and turns

The Smokey procedurals also allow you to apply a turbulence speed, whichcontrols the movement of values through the fractal pattern, creating a pulsing

or moving smoke effect Smoky procedurals appear to loop around and repeat ifthey are animated too fast, so they seem to work best with slow Turbulence val-ues Try these out on your next volumetric light for a nice effect

Versions: 6-7.5c

546 Larry Shultz | Procedurals | Beginner

Easy Mirror Ball Effect

Let’s say you have a mirror ball hanging off the ceiling in a scene You thinkthe best way is to actually make each facet of the ball a mirror and you go aboutsetting up lights to bounce off the ball, right? Here’s a faster way:

Apply the Crust procedural or Bump Array procedural to the walls, floor,and ceiling in your scene (and anything else you need) in the luminosity channeland set world coordinates Select the mirror ball as the reference object Nowwhen the mirror ball rotates so will the spots on the walls, floors, and ceiling

n Apply a gradient as a layer above the current procedural Set the inputparameter of the gradient to Previous Layer Now start adding keys into the

Texturing | 243Procedurals

gradient bar You’ll notice that the procedural now has a lot more colors ible in it.

vis-n Apply a vis-new procedural such as Fractal Noise ivis-n a layer below the currevis-ntprocedural Set the blending mode to Texture Displacement You should nowsee the current procedural broken up or displaced by the new procedural.Take a look at the following figure

An even easier way is to attach the procedural to a reference object such as anull object If the null is moved, rotated, or scaled, the texture attached to it doesthe same thing In LightWave 5.0 there was a texture velocity control

Versions: 5-8

244 | Chapter 5

Procedurals

549 Larry Shultz | Procedurals | Intermediate

Raindrops Hitting the Ground

A very quick way to create the effect of raindrops hitting the ground orsomething else is to apply the Crust procedural to a surface that has a texturemap Rather than putting the Crust procedural on top of the existing texture map,place it below it and change the blending mode to Texture Displacement Nowanimate the Crust procedurals position along the y-axis

This will create a very believable effect and renders very fast I recommendtrying this first in the color channel

Versions: 6-8

550 Eki Halkka | Procedurals | Beginner

Procedurals and Image Maps

Even though some decent results can be created using only procedural tures (see my caravan scene on the CD for reference), they are best used as acompanion for image maps Adding just a bit of procedural randomness is oftenthe easiest way to get rid of that shiny, computer-generated look I often add asubtle procedural layer to all texture channels

552 Patrik Beck | Procedurals | All Levels

Looping Ripple Effects

Any procedural effect based on waves, like the Ripple textures or the water texture, can be made to loop by giving it the correct wave speed Tocalculate the wave speed, divide the Wave Length value by the number offrames in the sequence You can enter the equation directly in the Wave Speedbox (0.5/60 for this example) and hit Return; LightWave will replace the equa-tion with the correct value

Under-Versions: All

553 Patrik Beck | Procedurals | All Levels

Finding the Right Scale Settings for Procedural Textures

It is sometimes difficult to guesstimate the correct Scale setting when ing procedural textures to surfaces With names like Turbulence and Crumple it

apply-is hard to get a mental concept of how they work, and the Scale setting apply-is one ofthe most crucial for getting the texture to work A good rule of thumb whenapplying a procedural to a surface is to set the scale to about 1/10th the area of

Texturing | 245Procedurals

the surface If you have a block that is 20 meters across, try setting the dural’s Scale value to 2 meters on the x, y, and z-axis It may not always be right

proce-on the mproce-oney, but it usually gets you somewhere in the neighborhood so youcan adjust the values further

Versions: 5-7.5c

ÜNote: The Translucency setting can also be used to enhance and boost the effect of back-illumination

from lights through surfaces such as stained glass

556 Kevin Phillips | Advanced Attributes | Beginner

Tinted Reflections

Materials such as car paint, soft drink cans, or colored glass will often tintany reflection with that of its own surface By adjusting the Color Highlightsparameter, any reflections and specular highlights will take on the color of thesurface

Versions: 6-7.5c

246 | Chapter 5

Advanced Attributes

557 Kevin Phillips | Advanced Attributes | Beginner

Underlying Colorations of Models

If you have painted or added any vertex color maps to your model, you canuse them to tint your textures by specifying the Vertex Color map and the per-cent of mix with the surface on the Advanced tab of the Surface Editor

This is great if you want to paint in areas of flesh tone on a character inModeler for instance, or perhaps paint in areas where oil stains would havetainted the paint on a vehicle, then blend them into your more detailed surfacing

Versions: 6-7.5c

558 Kevin Phillips | Advanced Attributes | Beginner

Blanking Surfaces from the Alpha Channel

If you specify a Constant Value of 0 for the Alpha Channel parameter on theAdvanced tab of the Surface Editor, the surface area will be removed from thealpha channel of the rendered image This is useful if you want to blank out sur-faces from a render but keep parts of the object in the alpha channel

If you want the surface to not affect the alpha channel, but you would likeanything behind the surface to still be there, use the Unaffected by Surfaceoption instead This essentially forces the surface to behave as though it’s 100%transparent; however, note that this can increase render times Also, if the sur-face is covering another object, its alpha will reveal the surface in front anyway

Versions: 6-7.5c

559 Timothy “Amadhi” Albee | Advanced Attributes | All Levels

Vertex Color Maps

If you’re having trouble getting object A to appear as if it’s sitting on top ofobject B, even though you’re ray-tracing shadows, it may be because the bottom

of object A is too light Rather than fiddling with the lights, you can apply a tex Color map to the bottommost points of your object A (and to the appropriatesurface(s)) to quickly and easily force its bottom to be darker (This works greatfor corners of rooms, and where walls meet floors And yes, you could use aweight map with a surface gradient on diffuse and/or color surface channels, butthis tip is here to show that even if you’re not doing video game work, vertexcolor maps can be very useful!) A good starting point for this particular VertexColor map trick is: R=5%, G=4%, B=3%, A=50%

Ver-Versions: All

560 Kevin Phillips | Advanced Attributes | Beginner

Shadow Catching Alphas

If you specify Shadow Density for the Alpha Channel parameter, the surfacearea that has shadows cast upon it will be kept in the alpha channel of the ren-dered image, and the rest of the surface will be removed This is especially ofuse when compositing shadows back into your projects later on

Texturing | 247Advanced Attributes

For example, create a flat plane and color it black with 100% diffuse Set itsalpha channel to Shadow Density and place it under some other objects Makesure any shadow options are active for lights (including Raytrace Shadows ifneeded) and render it to a 32-bit image.

Now load it into your favorite image application, and use its alpha channel tocomposite it over another image You should see just the rendered objects andblack shadows

Versions: All

Environmental Attributes

563 Leigh van der Byl | Environmental Attributes | Beginner

Using Reflection Environments Properly

Under the Environment tab in the Surface Editor are a few different optionsfor calculating how reflections are rendered on your surface Some of these pro-duce realistic results, while others are cheats

The first option, Backdrop Only, causes the surface to only reflect whatever

is in the background in your scene (you set up the background in the Effectspanel in Layout) Using this option will have the surface ignore any geometryaround it in its reflections While this option may be quicker to render, it is unre-alistic since it will be obvious that geometry surrounding the model is not

248 | Chapter 5

Environmental Attributes

reflected in the surface However, if you are not too close to the surface, thisoption is sometimes suitable.

Ray Tracing + Backdrop (which is the default) sets the surface to reflecteverything that is around it (other models), as well as the background that youhave set up in Layout This usually gives the best results, as the entire scene andenvironment is accurately reflected in the surface

The Spherical Map option uses an image that you select from the ReflectionMap drop-down list as an environment that is invisibly “wrapped” sphericallyaround the surface and then reflected in it Using this option causes the surface

to ignore any surrounding geometry (like the Backdrop Only option), as well asthe background in the scene The only thing that we see reflected in the surface

is the image that we select as the reflection map

The fourth choice for Reflection Options is Ray Tracing + Spherical Map,which allows both the reflection map that you have chosen and any surroundinggeometry to show up in the surface’s reflection

Versions: All

565 Larry Shultz | Environmental Attributes | Advanced

Using HDR Images as Reflection Maps

One of the advantages of using HDR images as reflection maps is that theywill have areas where the luminosity values exceed 100% This works wellwhere the reflectivity of a surface is lower overall so you do pick up the higherluminosity values in the reflection Using a gradient for the added Fresnel effect(higher reflectivity at the extreme angles) helps

Even standard 24-bit images can be “cheated” to behave like HDR reflectionmaps by using gradients to modulate them

Versions: 6-8

Texturing | 249Environmental Attributes

566 Leigh van der Byl | Shaders | Beginner to Intermediate

The Difference between Textures and Shaders, and When to Use Each

When we create CG surfaces, we have a number of methods of creating thelook of those surfaces We can use procedural textures, images, and shaders todefine the surface’s appearance so that it looks realistic or so that it looks theway we want it to

Shading a surface is basically defining the way in which the surface itself, as

a whole, reacts to light This specifically pertains to the color, diffuse,

specularity, reflection, and luminosity attributes of a surface, as these are the face properties that deal most with the surface’s interaction with lighting in thescene Generally it is good practice to set up the shading of a surface before add-ing any textures to it LightWave ships with a number of native shaders (and anumber of commercial shaders are available as well) that help you to define theshading of your surface Shaders do not add details to the surface as such, butrather simply create and enhance the quality of the basic surface

sur-Textures, on the other hand, add details to the surface These should ideally

be added once the surface has been shaded appropriately Textures can includeprocedural textures as well as images, and should only be used to add detailsthat cannot be shaded, such as color variations, as well as irregularities and

250 | Chapter 5

Shaders

variations within the surface’s shading attributes themselves The combination

of shading, which creates the basic substance of the surface, and texturing,which adds details to the substance, is what makes a complete surface

Versions: All

567 Leigh van der Byl, Gerald Abraham | Shaders | Intermediate

Baking Procedurals Using the Surface Baker

Have you ever created a really cool procedural texture in LightWave butwished you could somehow manually paint some more details into it? This iswhat the Surface Baker shader is for (among other things) You essentially bakeyour textures to an image using a UV map that you have already created for thesurface

To use the Surface Baker, simply assign it to your surface, set it up asdesired, and render your image The image baking will occur before the camerarendering takes place Once the baking is done, the image is saved to a selecteddestination, and the rendering of the actual scene (through the camera) follows.Even if you have 50 procedurals assigned to your surface, it will render all

of them This is cool because having a lot of procedurals assigned to a surfacetakes a long time to render, whereas if you bake them all to a single image, yourrendering will be a lot faster The one slightly annoying thing about the SurfaceBaker shader is that the only texture channel it can bake directly is the colorchannel So if you have procedurals assigned to your specularity, reflection, orany of your other surface attributes, you need to copy them into your color chan-nel (sometimes you need to tweak them so that they will act correctly) and thenbake them You can specify the final size of the baked image, as well as the des-tination to save it to directly from the Surface Baker panel

n Continuous Map

If checked, Surface Baker will consider all polygons to be smoothed

together This will result in a completely smooth shading If unchecked, eachpolygon will be shaded as if it was completely detached, resulting in a “faceted”rendering

Texturing | 251Shaders

n Bake Entire Object

This option will consider the entire object for calculations instead of usingjust the current surface the Baker is applied to

cre-n Bake Color, Diffuse, Illumicre-natiocre-n, Shaders

All these options are object-specific except for Illumination

Bake Color will bake the object’s color channel This includes layers tions, procedurals, gradients, and image maps

opera-Bake Diffuse follows the same principles as opera-Bake Color

Bake Shaders will apply any shader’s calculations to the final result

Bake Illumination will bake the incoming illumination hitting the object.This option isn’t object-specific as it depends solely on the lighting in yourscene

Surface Baker doesn’t bake specularity, reflectivity, or refraction becausesuch attributes are view-dependent For the same reason, baking of some shaderscould not evaluate properly The Fresnel shader for instance

To let Surface Baker start rendering, the surface it’s applied to must be ble from the camera on the current frame and a render command must be issued

visi-If a Render Scene command is issued and you’re baking to Image, a newimage will be saved for each frame

Versions: 7-8

569 Emanuele Salvucci | Shaders | Advanced

Soft Reflections

LightWave 3D features Reflection Blurring for ray-traced reflections as well

as for spherical map reflections

If you’re dealing with ray-traced reflections and want to make them soft, youcan apply the Edge Transparency shader to reflected objects instead of usingReflection Blurring Set Edge Transparency mode to Transparent and enter anappropriate Edge Threshold for the shader Obviously this trick is applicableonly if reflected objects aren’t seen by the camera, so it’s mostly suitable for

“single subject” scenes, like car renderings for instance

Here’s a comparison between standard, blurred, and edge-transparencyreflections:

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Shaders

In the above image, three white luminous spheres (luminosity = 100%) arereflected by the red one.

Ray-tracing rendering using reflected objects with Edge Transparencyproved to be about four times faster than Reflection Blurring

Versions: 7-8

570 Brad Krause | Shaders | Advanced

Creating Flat Blacks

Applying any of the eight varieties of the Halftone shader will cause you onevariety of grief: no flat blacks Even in shadows The halftone effect will appear

on the entire surface, but it will never automatically create a flat black area, even

if you eliminate all light sources

The only way to achieve realistic flat blacks is by inputting a negative valuefor the diffuse attribute This will make the entire surface black But if you use

an incidence angle gradient on the diffuse channel, you can create flat, pletely black areas on the side tangent to a light or camera

com-Putting a negative value in the Ambient Intensity field in the Global nation panel can also help create flat blacks — in shadows, for instance Butdoing so will also require some modifications to your gradient

Illumi-My favorite variant of the Halftone shader is the line version It makes anextremely fine emulation of a woodcut technique But watch out for moire pat-terns! Knowing the final output device (TV, computer, or film) is the first step inavoiding them

Versions: 5-8

571 Geoffrey Kater | Shaders | Beginner

Sharing Attributes

When many surfaces share the same attributes or shader plug-ins, save time

by applying those attributes to multiple surfaces at the same time For example,open the Surface Editor located in the top-right corner of Layout or Modeler.Holding down the Ctrl key, choose all the surfaces you’d like to affect, and thenapply any attribute, like Glow, Specular, and so on

Versions: 5-8

Texturing | 253Shaders

572 Timothy “Amadhi” Albee | Shaders | All Levels

UV Maps

The Surface Baker shader can create a UV map from a weight map if youuse the weight map as a control for a surface color Gradient texture with theInput Parameter set to your desired weight map (Surface Baker requires that atleast a pixel’s worth of the surface with Surface Baker applied is seen by thecamera at the time of rendering.)

Versions: All

Presets

573 Leigh van der Byl, William “Proton” Vaughan | Presets | Beginner to Intermediate

Creating Texture Presets

When you have the Surface Editor open in either Modeler or Layout, hittingthe “s” key brings up your presets panel, called the Preset Shelf

The presets that are shown in this window are actually contained within yourLightWave installation directory If you take a look in your Programs folder,you’ll find a Presets folder containing yet another folder called Surface Editor.Inside this folder you’ll find a folder called Surface Preset, and inside this folder(this is starting to seem like one of those weird Russian dolls!), you’ll find fold-ers containing all your different preset files, the ones that have a “.pst”

extension

254 | Chapter 5

Presets

The Preset Shelf contains all

of its settings within different

libraries Libraries are simply

groups of presets that are

con-tained within those folders in your

LightWave installation You can

select the library that you wish to

access by selecting it from the

drop-down menu at the top-left

corner Clicking on the menu

gives you the list of all these

fold-ers within the Surface Preset

folder in your LightWave

directory

So naturally, this means that if

you wish to make a new section in

your presets panel, you simply

have to create a folder in

Explorer, in the Surface Preset

directory Alternatively you can

right-click anywhere within the

presets panel and select Library>

Create Library

The Preset Shelf is not

con-tained simply within your scene or object It survives as an entity on its own, sothat no matter what scene or model you are working on, all the libraries that youcreate will always be there, regardless of what scene or model you were working

on when you made them

To add presets from the Surface Editor into your presets panel, all you have

to do is double-click on the preview window in the Surface Editor This will addthe currently active texture to the currently open library in the Preset Shelf Sim-ilarly, to assign a preset to a currently selected surface in the Surface Editor,simply double-click on the preset in the panel A Load Confirmation panel pops

up asking if you are sure you want to load those settings

You can also load presets by right-clicking on them and selecting Open

If you wish to apply certain parts of the preset to the currently selected face (when using presets that are more complex than just attribute values), youcan do so by right-clicking on the preset preview and selecting Open WithParameters

sur-This option allows you to choose which parts of the preset you would like toload by letting you select them in a new window

You can manage the contents of your different Preset libraries by

right-clicking anywhere in the panel and using the options there for copying andmoving presets

Texturing | 255Presets

Since the Preset Shelf exists as a scene-independent entity, maintaining awell-stocked bunch of presets that you use frequently can greatly enhance yourwork flow.

Versions: 6.5-8

ð Mac Note: To make a new folder in your presets folder on the Mac, simply navigate to the Surface

Preset folder, and Ctrl+click and choose New Folder from the drop-down menu, choose File>New Folderfrom the menu bar, or press Command+Shift+N on your keyboard (If you are in Column View, the firstoption won’t be available, of course.)

574 Larry Shultz | Presets | All Levels

Creating Presets

The Preset Shelf can be used to store custom-made surfaces, volumetriclights, HyperVoxels, and rigs This provides an easy way to store and access pre-sets and share them with others When the Preset Shelf is open you cannot movebetween surface presets, HyperVoxel presets, and so on The correct preset shelfwill open depending on which panel you are in, i.e., Surface panel vs

HyperVoxels panel

Versions: 5-8

575 Robin Wood | Presets | Beginner

Saving Your Presets

Your personal presets can be some of your most valuable assets You madethem, and you know they work with the kind of image you want to produce Sodon’t risk losing them Make at least one backup copy, or make extra copies tocarry around on a pen or keychain drive

You can find the Presets folder in your Programs folder If you open it, you’llfind a whole bunch of other folders for the various categories Open, say, theSurface Editor folder, and you’ll find the Surface Preset folder inside Open that,and you’ll see a whole list of folders, with names you might recognize from thePreset list Open one of them, and you’ll see the actual preset files (.pst) All ofthese behave just like ordinary folders full of files and folders, of course So, toback them up, just save the folders you want to keep safe to external media, andyou’ll never have to worry about losing them in case of disaster or updatesagain

The chrome ball looks like it does because it is reflecting something Aquick solution is to change the backdrop from a backdrop color to a gradient

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Presets

backdrop Now the chrome settings have something to reflect It’s not brokenafter all :)

579 Larry Shultz, Robin Wood | VIPER | All Levels

VIPER and Presets

When using VIPER, make sure you have selected a surface in the SurfaceEditor you wish to see Then enable VIPER Make sure you also render (F9)before hitting the render button in the VIPER panel VIPER needs a renderedimage first before it can be used to preview surface changes Double-clicking on

a surface in the VIPER window will automatically create a preset of that

sur-face Clicking once on a surface in VIPER also selects that surface in theSurface Editor

Versions: 5-8

580 Robin Wood | VIPER | Beginner

Working with VIPER

VIPER needs a current render to work (It also needs the Surface Editor to

be open If you’ve never gotten anything but a black window, that may be why.)But the render there isn’t very large, and won’t show shadows, reflections, orantialiasing If you want to render your scene as quickly as possible for VIPER

to use, turn all those things off, and set the render size to be the same as the view size you are using in VIPER Then hit F9, and only render what you need

pre-Versions: 6.5-8

Texturing | 257VIPER

581 Robin Wood | VIPER | Beginner to Intermediate

Using VIPER to Preview Transparency

Sometimes it’s hard to see some of the texture channels (like Transparency)

in VIPER, but you can still use it to tweak those channels Just build the textures

in the Color channel, and then copy/paste all layers into the correct channelwhen you have what you want

(If you have the color just the way you want it already, save the entire face into the Presets Shelf Then build your other channel, use Copy All Layers

sur-to put that information on the clipboard, double-click the presets sur-to load theunmodified channels back into the surface, and then use Paste All Layers to putthe modified values into the desired channel The copied values will persist onthe clipboard even though you’ve overwritten them in the Surface Editor.)

Versions: 6.5-8

582 William “Proton” Vaughan, Rob Powers | VIPER | All Levels

Select Surfaces in VIPER

When using VIPER you have the ability to select a surface by simply ing on it in the VIPER display This can make it much easier to select a specificsurface to edit in a scene that has a large list of surfaces

click-Versions: All

ÜNote: VIPER won’t be active unless the Surface Editor is open

583 Patrik Beck | VIPER | All Levels

Versions: All

258 | Chapter 5

VIPER

Satura-Versions: 5-8

586 Eki Halkka | Image Editor | Beginner

Multilayer HDRI Composites

When compositing in LightWave 3D is referred to, what people usuallythink of is the background and foreground images The tools do what they prom-ise, and that may be enough for many implementations But did you know youcan make multilayer HDRI composites and more using just the background andforeground images?

The key is the Image Editor First of all, you can use it to modify the ground and background images by applying color correction But the really coolthing is the Image Processing tab With these filters you can apply blur, highlightglow, and a load of other effects to the image

fore-It’s much better to leave all image processing that’s to be done to your ders to a second pass This way you don’t have to re-render that monster twomillion poly radiosity scene all over again if you are not satisfied with yourCorona settings, so get into this habit:

ren-1 Always render to serial images Without image processing PreferablyHDRI

2 Load the sequence as a backdrop to a clean scene, and apply the filters andwhatever to the image sequence

Speaking of Corona — one of the greatest advantages of compositing in LW

is the ability to use HDR images When rendering to HDRI, you can leave a lotmore to postproduction; the adjustments are quick to do compared to renderingall the frames again

HDRI also lets you use filters like Corona just like when rendering thescene; you can, for example, set the threshold for the glow effect to be 120%,and the filter will work correctly If the image is 24-bit, everything over 100%gets clipped away, and a filter with those settings would not do anything.One of the image filters deserves closer inspection With Textured filter, aninfinite amount of image or texture layers can be added on top of each other, in avery similar fashion to the Texture Editor This shows the seemingly feeblebackground/foreground compositing concept in a totally new light

Here’s an example of how to stack layers in the Textured filter to create a

“regular” image from LightWave’s various render buffers:

1 Raw RGB (the base image on top of which the others are stacked)

2 Diffuse shading buffer with multiply mode at 100%

Texturing | 259Image Editor

3 Specular shading buffer with additive mode at 100%

4 Geometry buffer, in alpha mode, inverted, 100% This controls the

specularity layer based on the incidence angle

5 A pure blue value procedural, normal mode at 10%

6 Shadow buffer in alpha mode, at 100% These two layers give the shadows ablue tint

7 Mirror buffer Again, the geometry buffer could have been added on top ofthis for incidence angle control

For more, see www.LW-Fin.org

proce-Versions: 6-8

260 | Chapter 5

Image Editor

Chapter 6

Staging/Digital

Cinematography

Cinematography — (cin·e·ma·tog·ra·phy)

: the art or science of motion-picture photography

Even if you’re Janusz Kaminski (Saving Private Ryan), Conrad Hall (American Beauty), or Andrew Lesnie (LOTR: The Fellowship of the Ring), the process of

staging and cinematography is an ongoing learning process that some argue cannever be truly mastered, only improved on Cinematography touches everyaspect of filmmaking and requires a deep understanding of all the facets andminute details of a director’s vision You do not have be an aspiring cinematog-rapher to find nuggets of information in this chapter Even if you only want tomodel, light, or work on small sections of a film, learning more about cinema-tography will make you a better, more well-rounded artist

— Wes “kurv” Beckwith

General Tips

588 Steve Warner | General Tips | Beginner

Perspective Camera Plug-in

You can match your camera to the Perspective view in Layout by using thePViewMC plug-in from Lernie Ang This, as well as Lernie’s other greatplug-ins, can be found at http://thespread.ghostoutpost.com If you’ve everfound the perfect angle from which to position your camera, only to realize youcouldn’t render because you were looking through the Perspective view, this will

be a lifesaver In addition to moving the camera to match your Perspective view,

it can also create and move lights, and match the camera to any of Layout’sviewports, allowing you to create simulated orthographic renders

Versions: 6-8

261

589 Steve Warner | General Tips | Beginner

Camera Motion

Using the Target option in the camera’s Motion Options panel will help youquickly set up the camera in your scene and eliminate the tedious move/rotate/move again/rotate again routine Simply hit the “m” keyboard shortcut whenyour camera is selected and specify an object for the camera to point toward.Then use the left and right mouse buttons to move your camera into position.Since the target is controlling which way your camera points, you’re free to sim-ply move the camera around When you’re happy with what you see, turn off thecamera’s Target and set a keyframe

591 Leigh van der Byl | General Tips | Beginner to Intermediate

The Vertigo Effect

Have you ever watched a film (particular a thriller or horror film) that had ascene where somebody looks down a road or a corridor and the entire back-ground of the environment in the shot seems to be rushing backward or forwardwithout the camera appearing to move? A recent example of this technique can

be seen in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring when

Frodo looks down a forest road and the road appears to rush forward while thetrees alongside appear to remain static, in a

dizzying way This technique is known as

the vertigo effect; it gets its moniker from

Alfred Hitchcock’s 1958 classic of the same

name It is commonly used as a method of

unsettling audiences as the shift in

perspec-tive looks very unnatural and essentially

makes audiences feel that something is

“wrong.”

Creating this effect is simple All you

need to do is synchronize the movement of

the foreground subject in the shot with the

camera’s aperture size value, so that the

subject remains the same size in the shot

while the background appears to move

for-ward In practice, this means that you have

to set up your scene with the camera

focused on the main subject in the frame

You then animate the aperture size (the

262 | Chapter 6

General Tips

Zoom Factor value in your Camera Properties panel) to decrease rapidly whilesimultaneously moving the camera toward the subject.

Because the widening aperture gives the illusion that the camera is movingbackward, the counteracting movement of the camera actually moving forwardcreates the unsettling effect

satu-Versions: All

594 Brad Krause | General Tips | Beginner to Intermediate

Camera Zoom for Product “Photography”

When it comes to product renders, the default LightWave zoom of 3.2 is toolittle and the initial camera distance is too close

Clients who ask for 3D simply to feature their product want clarity They arenot fond of what usually passes for dynamic lighting or perspective They likeeverything clear and simple

So after you import your single object into Layout, move your camera twicethe distance it defaults to Then double your camera zoom to compensate.Art at the direct behest of commerce prizes clarity over dynamism

Versions: 5-8

595 Brad Krause | General Tips | Beginner to Intermediate

Product Y-Axis Alignment

When you’re making numerous objects with no concern for capital “A” artand every concern for efficiency, modifying little steps can make a big

Staging/Digital Cinematography | 263General Tips