LightWave 3D [8] 1001 Tips & Tricks phần 2 doc

— Wes “kurv” Beckwith Installation and Configuration 126 Rob Powers, Dave Jerrard, William “Proton” Vaughan, Eki Halkka | Installation and Configuration |Intermediate Creating New Config

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123 Geoffrey Kater | Design | All Levels

Modeling the Bare Essentials

Model only the necessary parts of your model for animation In other words,don’t build the legs of a character if you’re only going to see it from the waist

up Modeling more just wastes computer resources, in storage, project time, andrendering time

Versions: All

Design, Pre-visualization, and Prep | 37Design

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Chapter 3

Program Setup

Whether a seasoned veteran or a newbie to LightWave 3D, we are all looking forshortcuts and suggestions on better program setup From saving disk space andorganizing programs to customizing menu layouts and creating keyboard short-cuts, this chapter’s tips cover a number of important topics Program setup andorganization is such a crucial task with LightWave Do not overlook the infor-mation in this chapter by thinking you already have your plug-ins organized andshortcuts set up — you just might find a tip that saves you time on a daily basis

— Wes “kurv” Beckwith

Installation and Configuration

126 Rob Powers, Dave Jerrard, William “Proton” Vaughan, Eki Halkka | Installation and Configuration |Intermediate

Creating New Configs and Managing Them

By default, the configuration files for LightWave are stored in the ments and Settings folder on the Windows drive This will cause problems whenyou upgrade or try to run a different version of LightWave since the configura-tion files are different, but they’re all saved in the same place To fix this, you’llneed to delete these files (LW3.cfg, LWM3.cfg, LWHub.cfg, and LWExt.cfg)every time you want to run a different version of the software Of course, thismeans that when you run LightWave, you’ll need to add plug-ins again and redoany other modifications you’ve made in the past since they’ll be gone

Docu-On the PC, create a new Config folder in the folder where you have

LightWave installed Now go to the LightWave Programs folder and createshortcuts for the lightwav.exe and modeler.exe files by right-clicking and select-ing Create Shortcut from the pop-up menu Next, copy the shortcuts to yourdesktop Right-click on each icon and select Properties from the pop-up Thiswill open the Properties panel for that shortcut In the Target section for

LightWave Layout you will see the path to your lightwav.exe file in the textentry box Click in that text entry box and move the cursor toward the right allthe way to the end of the line of text Here you will add a new line of text to tellLightWave exactly what config files to use when loading Add -cPath into thatwindow replacing “Path” with the path to your newly created Config folder Forexample, if LightWave is installed on the C: drive in a folder called LightWave,you would add the following path to the text entry box: -cC:\LightWave\Config

39

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So the entire entry into the LightWave Layout Target entry box would be:C:\LightWave\Programs\lightwav.exe -cC:\LightWave\Config.

This will force LightWave to use the config files found only in this Configfolder, which will allow you to easily manage and back up your configs If thereare no configs in that folder, LightWave will create default configs the first timeyou open and close the application You should also follow the same steps forthe Modeler Properties shortcut

Versions: All

ð Mac Note (Robin Wood): The Mac doesn’t have cfg files; we have Prefs files You’ll find them inyour Home>Library>Preferences folder You can recognize them because they all have LightWave or LW(or LScript, LSed, LSid, etc.) in the name There might be only a few, or quite a lot of them, depending onhow many plug-ins you’ve used I recommend taking the whole slew and putting them into an Old Light-Wave Prefs folder when you change versions of the program That way, if you need to go back to the old

version, you’ll have them all

127 Dave Jerrard | Installation and Configuration | All Levels

Using Common Config Files

If you want to redirect LightWave to use a common configuration in tions where you have a network of LightWave workstations, you can also usethe -c option This way, when plug-ins need to be added, they only need to beadded once, and all the other installations will automatically find them How-ever, this would also mean that every workstation would be using the exact samemenu layout as well If some people modify their menus, then they’ll eithermodify the configuration for everyone else (assuming the config files are notwrite protected), or they’ll have to constantly recreate (or reload) their customconfigurations every time they restart The -p option can be used instead, whichmerely redirects LightWave to look for the plug-in’s configuration file

situa-(LWExt.cfg) at the specified location, but allows users to still use their own tom menu and key configurations

cus-For example: “E:\Program Files\LightWave_7.5\Programs\LightWav.exe” -0-c“E:\Program Files\LightWave_7.5” -p“L:\Network\Configs”

Versions: All

ð Mac Note (Robin Wood): This is a PC-only tip On the Mac, the -c and -p commands sometimesshow up in the cmdLines files, but I have never successfully gotten them to actually go to a file stored any-where except the Home>Library>Preferences folder

128 Eki Halkka | Installation and Configuration | Intermediate

Using Common Plug-ins

When you make your plug-in and config directories accessible through anetwork, you can have multiple users share the same configuration — andwhenever you add a plug-in, it’s available to all users

Versions: 6-8

40 | Chapter 3

Installation and Configuration

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129 William “Proton” Vaughan | Installation and Configuration | Beginner

Have Configs, Will Travel

If you’re like me, you have customized your menu configuration to speed upyour work flow If you are a contract worker, student, or anyone who movesfrom computer to computer, you should get in the habit of traveling with yourcustom configs

don’t have your own Home folder there, so you don’t overwrite your host’s Prefs

Saving Config Files

When modifying the menu and keyboard configurations, save them as rate files Each configuration panel has Save and Load buttons so you caninstantly load up any pre-saved configuration This is most handy when youneed to delete the cfg files because you are running a new version or one hasbecome corrupted, since you’ll be able to return to your custom setup quickly.It’s also handy if you want to set up different configurations based on the type ofwork you’ll be doing A character rigging setup could be created that deals withall aspects of rigging, and then an effects configuration could be made thatfocuses on particles, deformation, etc You could then switch between them onthe fly

sepa-Versions: All

ð Mac Note (Robin Wood): This tip refers to menu layouts and keyboard shortcuts This works forthe Mac, too, but there’s no suffix on the files So be careful to give them a meaningful name when you savethem (It helps to save all of them to the same place, too I keep all of mine in a folder called Interface Stuff

in my Content folder.)

Editing Config Files

LightWave’s configuration files — LWHUB.cfg, LW3.cfg, LWEXT3.cfg,and LWM3.cfg — can be opened in any text editor, like Notepad They’re reallyrather educational reading — and not rocket science for the most part

Versions: 6-8

ð Mac Note (Robin Wood): The Mac files are quite different They are found in your

Home>Library>Preferences folder, and all have LightWave in the name They also appear to be much

shorter, but you can still open them with any text editor, such as TextEdit, and take a look at them

Program Setup | 41Installation and Configuration

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Controlling LightWave

You can control the way LightWave works by adding switches to the Startupicon’s properties If you wish to, for example, disable the Hub, add –0 (minuszero) at the end of the startup command: C:\LightWave\Programs\lightwav.exe–0 In Windows, this is done by right-clicking the Startup icon, and selectingProperties from the pop-up menu

Versions: 6-8

ð Mac Note (Robin Wood): This is a PC-only tip If you want to disable the Hub on the Mac, you

add –0 (minus zero) to the Hub cmdline file in the Programs folder, inside the LightWave 3D folder

Changing Frame Settings through Config File

Some of the default values that LightWave starts up with can’t be changedthrough the interface, but they can be altered by editing the LW3.cfg file in atext editor One example is the default scene length Sixty frames is only twoseconds of animation, and most scenes you work on will be longer than this Ifind it handy to change the value to 300, which gives you enough room to imme-diately start testing ideas with such features as particles Look for the line

“DefaultSceneLength 60” and change the value to a number you like (300 givesyou 10 seconds, which is a good average length) Make sure Layout is not run-ning and then save this file Layout will use the new value the next time it’s run

Versions: 6-8

ð Mac Note (Robin Wood): This works exactly the same way on the Mac, but the file you need to

change is the Layout 8 Prefs file, of course (Or “Layout 3 Prefs” in versions prior to 8.)

134 Rob Powers | Installation and Configuration | Beginner

Multiple License Keys

For LightWave to operate properly you must have your license key installed

in the LightWave/Programs folder The license key is a simple text file whereyou can input your unique license key number for your dongle and resave it asLICENSE.KEY The license key file can include multiple key numbers in thesame file Just paste the license key numbers each on a separate line, one belowthe other This is very useful if you are a company that has multiple LightWavedongles and everyone is loading LightWave from a central server location

Versions: 5.6-8

ð Mac Note (Robin Wood): On the Mac, the file is License.key

135 Wes “kurv” Beckwith, Steve Warner | Installation and Configuration | All Levels

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part of your object makes the wireframes difficult to see Best of all, LightWave

8 will let you view these color wireframes in the standard Textured Wire view

There are three ways to change and use this great new feature The first is tochange the existing wireframe shades by going to the Detail tab and clicking onthe Sketch Color button as seen in the following figure

This will change the existing wireframe colors while in the Textured Wireview as long as you have not selected any polygons in your model Remember,selecting nothing is the same thing as selecting everything in LightWave.You can also change the default sketch color in the Options window; thismakes it easy to see new geometry while working with complex objects To get

to the Display Options window, hit “d” or go to Edit>Display Options

Scene in LightWave 8 eler using Textured Wire view with Sketch Colors set

Mod-to Black

Click on the Detail tab, then choose the Sketch Color button.

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The third way is to select a polygon, and change the color of only that gon Click on the polygon to select it in Polygon mode Then click on the Detailtab and choose the Sketch Color button Change the color of that polygon Allpolygons created from that polygon forward will also retain the new color.

poly-Version: 8

136 Lee Stranahan | Installation and Configuration | All Levels

Create Some Default Scenes

The first thing you probably do when you go into LightWave is to get it set

up the way you like it You know — set the antialiasing settings how you likethem, resolution, and so on A better approach is to make some scenes with thesetting as you like them and load those Maybe even do some default lightingsetups Much quicker

Versions: All

137 Steve Warner, William “Proton” Vaughan | Installation and Configuration | Beginner

Optimize Layout Renders

Display SubPatch Level/Render SubPatch Level When animating polygon objects, sometimes there’s too much data for your machine to handleand playback/redraw can become sluggish On SubPatch (SubD) objects youcan have a lower SubPatch level (even 0) for display purposes and still have itrender at the higher level This is priceless when it comes to animating high-polygon characters

high-Versions: All

138 Kevin Phillips, Dave Jerrard | Installation and Configuration | Advanced

Adding Print Camera Resolution Options

You can adjust more than just the menu and keyboard shortcuts in

LightWave by editing the lw3.cfg file A lot of settings are stored in here,

including the camera resolution presets you get in the camera’s Properties panel.

44 | Chapter 3

Display Options window

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If you’re doing a lot of print work, you might consider adding any commonlyused resolutions to this list by adding more resolution presets.

The ResolutionPreset command allows you to enter the parameters for thecamera and a text description that gets displayed in the Camera Properties panel

in the Resolution list box The parameters include the width, height, and pixelaspect ratio followed by mask settings (left, top, width, and height) if needed(though in most cases you can just leave these as 0,0, and the same size as theresolution) The end of the line is where you can type a text description for thissetting

Before adding these, make sure that you have exited LightWave completely.(This includes the Hub as well if it is active.) If you don’t, LightWave will over-write your changes when it exits and you will have to add these again

Some common resolutions to consider for print include:

ResolutionPreset 3508 4961 1 0 0 3508 4961 A3 (300dpi Port)

ResolutionPreset 4961 3508 1 0 0 4961 3508 A3 (300dpi Land)

ResolutionPreset 2550 3300 1 0 0 2550 3300 Letter (300dpi Port)

ResolutionPreset 3300 2550 1 0 0 3300 2550 Letter (300dpi Land)

ResolutionPreset 2200 3400 1 0 0 2200 3400 Tabloid (200dpi)

Some other fun ones you might also consider for your own personal use:ResolutionPreset 1063 614 1 0 0 1063 614 Business Card (300dpi)

ResolutionPreset 1417 1417 1 0 0 1417 1417 CD Label (300dpi)

ResolutionPreset 3600 2400 1 0 0 3600 2400 6" x 4" Photo (600dpi)

And if you’re working alongside 2D animators, you’ll find that most 2D imagesare scanned for TV in a square pixel format This (for PAL at least, since it’swhat we use here in New Zealand) can be added as:

ResolutionPreset 768 576 1 0 0 768 576 D1 PAL (Square Pixel)

Additional from David Jerrard

Additional camera preset resolutions can be added to Layout by using a texteditor and modifying the LW3.cfg file Near the top of that file you can find aseries of default camera presets, as follows:

ResolutionPreset 640 480 1 0 0 640 480 VGA (640 x 480)

ResolutionPreset 800 600 1 0 0 800 600 SVGA (800 x 600)

ResolutionPreset 1024 768 1 0 0 1024 768 XGA (1024 x 768)

ResolutionPreset 1280 1024 1.0667 0 0 1280 1024 SXGA (1280 x 1024)ResolutionPreset 720 486 0.9 0 0 720 486 D1 (NTSC)

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Here’s an example of a custom preset:

ResolutionPreset 2048 1556 2 50 50 1998 1506 2.35:1 -Anamorphic (2048*1556)

Film-The first two numbers define the actual camera resolution that will be usedwhen the preset is selected The third number is the pixel aspect If you want toset up an anamorphic preset, this number determines the amount the image issqueezed (or stretched) The example preset above shows an anamorphicsqueeze of 2 being applied, which means that the rendered image will appearhalf as wide as it normally would The next four values are for the camera mask,and define start and end points for a frame that can be drawn into the renderedimage This example shows a 50-pixel wide border will be drawn when theCamera Mask option is active in the Camera Properties panel The rest of theline after these seven values is the text that appears in the Camera presets pop-upmenu

A downside of doing this is that you will lose all of these settings if you stall LightWave or delete the configuration files for any reason You will need toadd these again

rein-It pays to keep these settings in a separate text file that you can easily copyand paste back into your configuration at any time

Versions: 6.5-7.5c

ð Mac Note (Robin Wood): On the Mac, you need to put these lines into the LightWave Layout 8

Prefs file in your Home>Library>Preferences folder (For LightWave 7.x and below, it’s called LightWaveLayout 3 Prefs.) You can open the file with TextEdit set to Plain Text, or any other plain text editor When you

do, you’ll see the other ResolutionPreset lines For some reason, it seems to work better if you copy severalexisting lines, including the return character, paste them at the bottom of the section, and then edit them.(LightWave can be very picky about line return characters at times.) Save the file, and you should see the

new resolutions in the Camera Properties panel

46 | Chapter 3

Camera Properties panel Camera presets pop-up

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Automatically Load a Scene

You can have LightWave automatically load a scene when it starts up This

is handy if you have any favorite scene setups such as backdrops, lighting, eras, etc., that you like to use frequently You specify the scene to load in thecommand line or Target field in a Windows shortcut by placing the path and file-name of the scene within quotes after the command For example, the command

cam-“E:\Program Files\LightWave_7.5\Programs\LightWav.exe” “U:\Scenes\scenes\Cartest.lws” tells LightWave to load Cartest.lws from U:\Scenes when it starts

Versions: 7-8

ð Mac Note (Robin Wood): On the Mac, if you want to start from a specific scene, just put that scene

in the Dock (or in DragThing, or wherever you put such things) and click on it to start LightWave You caneven give it an icon that will remind you which one it is, if you feel so inclined, and want to have several towork from

Modifying Menus/Creating Tabs

If you’re modifying the menu or key configurations, it’s advised that youadd tabs to the default configuration, and add the buttons you want to those tabs.This way, if you have a problem, the person helping you can still direct you tothe correct buttons without you having to load the default configuration again Ifthe buttons themselves are moved all over and someone tries to help you, theywon’t know where you moved anything This is also true when trying to followthe many tutorials that are available

com-StartupCommand LoadScene <filename>

Where <filename> is the scene’s full path and name

The command given to StartupCommand can also be a custom genericLScript since generic scripts are treated as commands in Layout

If you create a generic LScript named Myscript and install it, a new

Generic_Myscript layout command is created

The startup line would then become StartupCommand Generic_Myscript

Versions: 6-8

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ð Mac Note (Robin Wood): To the best of my knowledge, there isn’t any way to do this on a Mac,exactly If you want to start Modeler with a specific command, including an LScript, you can go to Utilities>Commands: Edit Startup and choose one from the list If you want to start with a specific file, just put it inthe Dock and click it to launch the program But since we don’t have config files like the PC does, I don’t

believe that we can do this

142 Eki Halkka, Steve Warner, Todd Grimes | Installation and Configuration | Beginner

Defining Custom Displays

Defining custom displays is one of the most useful things you can do whensetting up Modeler These can be created by holding the Ctrl key and pressing 1through 9 on the numeric keypad For instance, you could set the 1, 2, and 3numeric keys to the displays you use most often so you can quickly toggle thedisplay type of any viewport Setting the 5 key to act as a default allows you toquickly restore any settings should they get tweaked during the modeling pro-cess Another option is to configure the keys so they match the Layout defaults,from 1 to 4: back, top, right, and perspective

Versions: 6-8

143 Dave Jerrard | Installation and Configuration | Intermediate

Camera Zoom Factor

LightWave’s default camera zoom factor of 3.2 is slightly wider than that ofthe human eye If you want to simulate normal eyesight, change the zoom factor

to 3.75 You can also change this default value by editing the LW3.cfg file in atext editor Look for the line “DefaultZoomFactor 3.2” and change the number

to whatever zoom factor you like

SubPatches in it

Versions: 6-8

48 | Chapter 3

Interface Adjustments

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145 Kevin Phillips | Interface Adjustments | Advanced

Speeding Up the Desktop

Having been cheap and had my previous experiences with LightWave onlow-spec computers, I’ve come to appreciate the art of fine-tuning the speed ofLayout when working with heavy scenes While true for slow machines, evenhigh-spec’d computers can benefit from being optimized Here is a list of some

of the key things I often do when working in Layout:

n Shrink the application window to its smallest size Layout, with all itsnon-modal panels like the Graph Editor, Scene Editor, etc., that are useful tokeep open, will “fit” more comfortably on a single monitor with extra edgespace, plus the redraw of the OpenGL viewport is faster with less data topush around

n Work in a minimal number of viewports Just because you can have four viewports in Layout doesn’t mean you should! I tend to only work with one,

occasionally two (or rarely, three if I need to see something from otherangles) but never a full four, and definitely not all running in full textureddisplay mode either

n I set my bounding box threshold quite low — around 5000 polys — whichmakes Layout perform better with heavy SubD’d scenery Simply setting theviewport display to Bounding Box doesn’t improve performance (it stillseems to process a lot of data), but setting the bounding box threshold does

n With keyframe-heavy scenes (such as Mocap-based animation), I deactivateShow Motion Paths These can create a large performance drain that is evenmore noticeable if you select a handful of items or bones I also deactivateShow Keys in Slider in the general options

n I never have Show SubPatch Cages active It decreases performance (and the

same can be said with Modeler — deactivate cage display to improveperformance)

n If working with character animation, I often set all my object DisplaySubPatch levels to 0 or 1 It may look nicer at 3, but when you are animat-ing, you only want to see what you need to (unless you need to work with

endomorphs, that is; a SubD level of 2 or 3 is better in that case) Pretty

should be for the render, not the desktop!

n If I’m only working on one or two items in the scene, selecting the others inthe scene editor and selecting Hide Selected Items from the Visibilitypull-down at the top greatly increases performance as well

n Activating OpenGL Transparency will also partially decrease your puter’s performance I tend to deactivate it unless I really need to see some-thing behind a transparent surface, for example, an eyeball behind a thintransparent film

com-Versions: 6.5-7.5c

Program Setup | 49Interface Adjustments

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146 Wes “kurv” Beckwith | Interface Adjustments | Beginner

Changing Point Display Size

New to 3D modeling or LightWave 3D and having a hard time seeing thepoints in Modeler? You can change the point size Press the “d” key or click onEdit>Display Options, then choose the Interface tab Check the Simple

Wireframe Points box, then change the value

Also, if you then “turn off” Simple Wireframe Points but leave the value atyour changed value, it will only affect the points you select, not all the points bydefault Also a nice feature Thanks, Robin!

Versions: 6-8

147 Wes “kurv” Beckwith | Interface Adjustments | Beginner

Fine Detail Cursor

Is your cursor not changing as you select different tools? That’s because youhave the Fine Detail Cursor box checked in the Display Options>Interface tab.Press the “d” key or click on Edit>Display Options, then choose the Interfacetab and uncheck this box

Version: 8

50 | Chapter 3

Interface Adjustments

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Menu Layout

149 Steve Warner | Menu Layout | Beginner

Recent Content Directory

If you frequently work on multiple projects, you can switch between ContentDirectories quickly with the Recent Content Directory tool This handy function

is hidden in LightWave’s menu system, so it’s best to make a button for it on themain interface

Versions: 6-8

150 Leigh van der Byl | Menu Layout | Beginner

Customizing Your Menu Layout

Just as with keyboard shortcuts, once you have developed your own workflow habits, you may find that you want to set up the layout of your menus sothat they are more suited to the way you work

Basically you can remove tools you never use from your menus, create newtabs (groups), create buttons for tools that don’t have buttons, and create newsections within existing menus for tools to be listed under

To change your menu layout, simply go to Edit>Edit Menu Layout Thisopens the Configure Menus panel

On the left you can see all the commands, tools, and functions found withinthe program, while on the right is a list of all the different sections found in theprogram’s menus

To create a new group, click on the New Group button There are a number

of different groups that you can create, such as groups that are positioned at thebottom of the screen In Modeler, by default, there are groups for Points, Poly-gons, Symmetry, Modes, etc., at the bottom of the screen To create a new grouphere, click on Bottom Edge from the Menus list on the right side of the

Program Setup | 51Menu Layout

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Configure Menus panel, and then click on New Group You can then rename thegroup by selecting it and clicking on Rename.

Likewise, you can create new groups under the top corner menu (where yourFile menus are) by selecting Top Menu Group and then clicking on New Group

Or you can create a new tab at the top of the screen by selecting Main Menu andcreating a new group

You can delete any groups you want by selecting them and clicking onDelete

To create sections within a group, you can create new groups simply byclicking on a position within a currently existing menu and clicking on NewGroup as well

This will create a new subsection within the group to which you can thenassign buttons To assign buttons to a new group, select the group, find a toolthat you wish to add to that group, and click on the Add button The followingimage shows a group I made for Edges with some buttons for the Add Edges,Remove Edges, and Reduce Edges commands

52 | Chapter 3

Menu Layout

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Simple as that! Creating groups of the tools you use most often can makeyour work flow a lot more comfortable and efficient.

Versions: 6.5-8

151 Kevin Phillips | Menu Layout | Beginner

Easy Reach of Common Tools

Anything you add or edit that is in the section known as Top Group will

appear at the top of every tool bar This makes the top group the ideal location to

place options that affect the overall program or common tools that you access allthe time

Be careful not to add too many tools to this section and push the rest of eachtoolbar too far down the side of the screen!

Versions: 6.5-7.5c

152 Rob Powers | Menu Layout | Beginner to Intermediate

Changing LightWave Interface to Previous Versions

Use Alt+F10 to pull up the Configure Menus panel This will allow you tochange the LightWave interface to resemble previous versions Depending onthe version of LightWave you are using, you will find options for 7.5, 6.0, and5.6 versions in the Presets menu pull-down This will prove invaluable forbeginners attempting to follow tutorials that were created with previous versions

of LightWave

Versions: 6-8

153 Rob Powers | Menu Layout | Intermediate

Saving Your New Interface Settings

After customizing your LightWave interface by organizing the menus andadding custom buttons, you should use the Configure Menus panel (Alt+F10) tosave your settings to a file You can then reload these settings at any time andport them to any LightWave system that you might work on

Versions: 6-8

154 Rob Powers | Menu Layout | Intermediate

Changing Color Schemes

On the PC, you can easily alter the color scheme of LightWave by addingyour new custom color settings to your LWHUB.cfg file Because the

LWHUB.cfg file is a text file, you can edit it in any word processor program Tochange the LightWave color scheme you paste the new settings into the

LWHUB.cfg file Here is one of my favorite color schemes:

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ÜNote from Wes “kurv” Beckwith: You can find a variety of different color schemes online at

SpinQuad Point your browser to http://www.spinquad.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=349and pull from about 30 different styles

155 Robin Wood | Menu Layout | Beginner to Intermediate

A Tab of Your Own

In both Modeler and Layout, when you edit the menu layout, you can makeany new tabs you want There is no limit to how many tabs the same tool can beon

So, if you find yourself reaching for a few tools on different tabs over andover to do a common task, just make a tab with the name of the task, and put allthe tools you need on that tab They’ll all be there, ready at hand

Versions: 6.5-8

156 Policarpo | Menu Layout | Beginner

Creating Custom Tabs and Shortcuts

Customize tabs for quick and easy access to frequently used tools Assigncustom keyboard shortcuts that make sense to you Save out multiple configsand save them someplace safe so you can reuse them wherever you might bedoing work Share them with a team

To create menu shortcuts, press F10 or use Edit>Edit Menu Layout to bring

up the Configure Menus panel

54 | Chapter 3

Menu Layout

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To create keyboard shortcuts, press F9 or use Edit>Edit Keyboard Shortcuts

to bring up the Configure Keys panel

Versions: 6-8

157 Dave Jerrard | Menu Layout | Beginner

Changing Tab Order

You can easily change the order of the tabs across the top of Modeler andLayout by clicking on one and dragging it left or right

Versions: All

Program Setup | 55Menu Layout

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158 William “Proton” Vaughan, Jonny Gorden, Eki Halkka | Menu Layout | Beginner

Configuring a New Tab (Alt+F10) or Shortcut Keys (Alt+F9)

If you’re like most LightWave users, you’re quick to visit Flay.com on adaily basis (a few times a day if you’re like me) to see what new plug-ins andLScripts have been created for free use

When you install plug-ins in LightWave, they are usually added in the ities>Plug-ins: Additional menu in both programs (Construct tab>Additional(Modeler), Layout>Plug-ins>Generic plug-ins (Layout 7.x), or Utilities tab>Additional (Layout 8.0)), with the exception of things like surface shaders andobject displacement plug-ins This makes them awkward to locate in one longlist and makes them feel a bit glued on, rather than integrated

Util-Use the Configure Menus panel to create a new tab where you can place andorganize these extra tools for easier access (Alt+F10) or create shortcut keys(Alt+F9) for them This will make the plug-ins feel much more like the built-intools in LightWave

Versions: All

159 William “Proton” Vaughan | Menu Layout | All Levels

Gain Maximum View

Alt+F2 hides the menu tabs and toolbar Repeat that to bring it back This ishandy if you want to gain the maximum screen real estate possible

Versions: All

Keyboard Shortcuts

160 Steve Warner, Robin Wood | Keyboard Shortcuts | Beginner

Remap Drop Current Tool

Remap the “e” keyboard shortcut in Modeler to the Drop Current Tool tion (found in the Selection command in the Config Keys window) Contrary towhat you’d expect, this will not drop your current tool It will, however, deselectany points or polys, thereby eliminating the need to click a blank area of thescreen Doing this will allow you to use a one-two combination of the Spacebarand the “e” key to drop your tool and deselect your points or polys, and willspeed up your modeling process

func-Alternatively, don’t forget that the Drop Current Tool command (/) will notonly drop a primitive without “making” it, but will also drop the currentlyselected points or polys If you have a programmable mouse and extra buttons,assigning that keystroke to a button can save you all kinds of time Just click thebutton instead of moving your hand on the keyboard or mousing to an emptyarea of the toolbar

Versions: 6-8

56 | Chapter 3

Keyboard Shortcuts

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161 Wes “kurv” Beckwith | Keyboard Shortcuts | Beginner

Quickly Change Layers

If you’re like me, you use the layers in LightWave to save incrementalchanges in your object while modeling; this is always a good practice You canquickly view those layers by pressing the 1 through 0 number keys at the top ofyour keyboard (0 is the last layer in a bank, and 1 is the first.) Be sure not to usethe numeric keypad; that assigns different view styles to a viewport Check it outand see; it’s a nice little feature

Page Up and Page Down change the bank of layers as well

Nice little shortcut!

Versions: 6-8

162 Steve Warner | Keyboard Shortcuts | Beginner

Selecting All Points in Modeler

When most people want to select all points or polys in Modeler, they use theright mouse button to drag a lasso around the object But sometimes this doesn’tcatch everything and you find yourself having to zoom out and drag a biggerlasso selection around everything There’s a quicker way to select all points orpolys Make sure that nothing is currently selected and use the Shift+’ keyboardshortcut This is normally the command for inverting your selection, but if noth-ing is selected, it will do the opposite and select everything

Versions: All

164 Robin Wood | Keyboard Shortcuts | All Levels

Delete with a Keystroke on a Mac

If you use a Mac with a regular (non-pro) keyboard you may have found thatthe Delete key doesn’t delete anything in Modeler, and it doesn’t seem that youcan map a keyboard shortcut to it But, in fact, you can It seems that in the PCworld, there are two different keys — one for Backspace and one for Delete.All you have to do to get a functional Delete key is map the Delete com-mand to (BS) Ctrl+H and it will work perfectly (The default keys have

Program Setup | 57Keyboard Shortcuts

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“Selection Mode: Polygon” there, so you may want to move that to an unusedkey Then again, since it’s so easy to change selection modes with the Spacebar,you may not.)

Versions: 6.5-8

8 Newbie Note: To do that, open Edit Keyboard Shortcuts Tap the Delete key on your keyboard, andthe proper line will become highlighted on the Configure Keys panel Click on the Unassign button to yourright Scroll down until you find Delete in the Key column Click on it, and then click on the Find button Thatwill show you where Delete is in the Command column on the left Click Unassign Leave it showing and

highlighted, and tap the Delete button on your keyboard once more That returns you to the now empty slotand highlights it Click the Assign button The slot should now say Delete Save the new Keyboard Shortcuts

so you don’t have to do this again, and click Done Now, to delete any geometry, all you have to do is tapDelete!

Zoom Tricks

The “+” and “–” keys on the numeric keypad will zoom in and out of theImage Viewer in Layout Once you’re zoomed in, the Alt key will allow you topan around the image

fin-on the regular portifin-on of the keyboard), you will immediately exit out of fieldedit mode, enabling you to use the keyboard shortcuts again

Version: 8

Power Zoom and Center

To quickly zoom into an area of your object (and/or center it in your display)

in Modeler, select some of the points or polys in the area you’re interested in,then press Shift+a This is the keyboard shortcut to fit all selected polys intoyour viewports You could use the Magnify tool to zoom in, but the Shift+acombination is often faster Additionally, you could use the “g” key to centeryour display at the position of your mouse pointer However, this only centersthe X, Y, and Z of your perspective display The Shift+a combination centers

both the X, Y, and Z and the heading, pitch, and bank This eliminates the need

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to pan around the perspective window, which you will often have to do afterusing the “g” keyboard shortcut.

Versions: 6-8

168 Wes “kurv” Beckwith, Rob Powers, Leigh van der Byl | Keyboard Shortcuts | All Levels

Learn the Shortcut Keys!

LightWave 8 has changed a lot of the shortcut keys, so be careful out therewith tutorials, books, videos, and such Try to separate the 7.5 and older short-cuts from the new 8 configs Sure, you can default back to the older configs, butNewTek will continue to use these new configs so you might just want to getused to them, especially if you’re new to LightWave Bite the bullet now andlearn them The purpose for the change was to try to standardize more of thekeys

Most tools in LightWave have a keyboard shortcut assigned to them ever, as you develop your own techniques and habits of working, you’ll

How-probably find that you won’t be using half the tools in the program, and mightfind that you wish to change your shortcuts to suit the tools you use regularly,especially if those tools don’t have shortcuts assigned to them by default Also,

if you are switching to LightWave from another program, you might find that itcan ease the transition by allocating similar shortcuts from whatever programyou used before Using keyboard shortcuts can greatly increase the speed andease of your work flow since you won’t be constantly switching from menu tomenu to click on the tools you use most often

Editing your keyboard shortcuts and creating new ones in LightWave is easy.All you need to do is go to Edit>Edit Keyboard Shortcuts This opens the fol-lowing window

On the left side of the window are listed all the different headings or sections(which can be expanded to display the tools and functions within each) found

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within the program, while on the right you’ll see the list of all the actual board shortcuts that are currently assigned Each key has the tool or function that

key-it acts as a shortcut for listed next to key-it If key-it is not assigned to any function, thespace alongside it is blank

To create a new shortcut, find the tool on the left side that you wish to assign

a shortcut to If the tool or function’s name is grayed out, it means that it alreadyhas a shortcut assigned to it To see what that shortcut is simply select it in thelist and click on the Find button on the right

To assign a new shortcut to a tool or function that has no shortcut, select it inthe list, select a desired available key from the list on the right, and click Assign

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If you wish to assign a different tool to a key that is currently assigned toone, you need to first click on the Unassign button, which becomes active if youclick on a key that is already in use.

You can save your own personal keyboard shortcuts to a file by selecting theSave option Click on Done when you are finished

Versions: 5-8

169 Wes “kurv” Beckwith | Keyboard Shortcuts | Beginner

Shortcut Keys on Toolbar

To help you use LightWave, the keyboard shortcut keys are actually on thebuttons in LightWave If a button does not have a keyboard shortcut on it, thattool does not have a shortcut assigned to it yet

Keyboard shortcut keys are case sensitive

For example, an asterisk (*) means Alt + the key shown (or Option on theMac), a carat (^) means Ctrl + the key shown (or Control on the Mac), and aplus sign (+) means Shift + the key shown

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171 William “Proton” Vaughan | Keyboard Shortcuts | All Levels

Toggling Viewport Views

There are four Display (group) commands assigned by default to certainkeyboard shortcuts that affect the viewport beneath your mouse pointer

Shift+F1 toggles the view between Back and Front, Shift+F2 toggles betweenTop and Bottom, Shift+F3 toggles between Right and Left, and Shift+F4 togglesbetween Perspective and UV

Versions: 6-8

172 Lee Stranahan | Keyboard Shortcuts | All Levels

Making Your Own Keyboard Shortcuts

LScript Commander can make keyboard shortcuts that you can’t make

No, you didn’t read that wrong You have probably heard that LScript mander can make neat little tools that are useful But one obscure use is to makekeyboard shortcuts that are impossible to make otherwise

Com-“Like what? Huh?,” your brain struggles to say Well, here’s an example.Let’s say you wanted a keyboard shortcut to change the antialiasing settings tomedium Your goal is hit a key, antialiasing is medium, the end You hit Alt+F9(which is the keyboard shortcut to assign keyboard shortcuts) and assign a key

to antialiasing and you’re happy, right?

No, you’re miserable and depressed You hit whatever key you assigned —and it brings up a requester where now you must manually select the antialiasingsettings Not the totally instant gratification you’d so longed for Here’s whereLScript Commander comes in

Bring up Commander and create a one-line LScript by selecting Antialiasing

to medium and then dragging that line to the top window That’s it for the script

— all it does is change antialiasing to medium, the end Now, add it to the face and give it a clever name like AA Medium Then, when you go back toassign a keyboard shortcut, assign the shortcut to this new, one-line LScript.And you’re instantly gratified and therefore happy! These one-line LScripts arevery useful time-savers

inter-Versions: 6-8

173 Jennifer Hachigian | Keyboard Shortcuts | Beginner

Drop Tool Tips

The Return key is the default keyboard shortcut for the Deselect Tool(Make) command On the PC keyboard, press the Enter key in Modeler to dropwhatever tool you are currently using and switch back to your current selectionmode For example, if you’re in Polygon Selection mode and want to drop yourcurrent tool while staying in Polygon Selection mode, press the Enter key once.You can also press the Spacebar once to deselect your current tool Pressing

it again will change your selection mode, however, so be careful

Versions: 6-7.5

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ð Mac Note (Robin Wood): On the Mac, use the Return key (on the regular keyboard), not the

Enter key (on the numeric keypad), to drop the tool and “make” the object The Spacebar works exactly thesame way

174 Dave Jerrard | Keyboard Shortcuts | All Levels

Previewing DOF and Motion Blur

Pressing Shift+F9 will apply the current motion blur and depth of field tings to the view in Layout This is faster than doing a test render to check howmotion blur and DOF affect the image Note that the higher the antialiasing set-ting is, the longer this will take since this preview also uses the current AAsetting Also, the Bounding Box Threshold in the Display Options controls thenumber of polygons this will render If this is too low, then you will have somenice motion blurred bounding boxes

set-Versions: 7.5-8

Motion blur seen in the OpenGL display in Layout.

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Go to Frame input box.

Or let’s say you need to rotate an object 3.25 full rotations Rather than ting a calculator out, you can simply enter 3.25*360 into the numeric requester.LightWave will do the math for you

get-Here’s another example: If you type in 250mm+20mm, you will get 270mm

as the value for that field

Available arithmetic operators are:

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(value in feet) + 1 meter

The final result will be expressed in the current unit system

Versions: 6-8

179 Robin Wood | Interface Navigation | All Levels

Contextual Menus for Everything

If you hold down both the Ctrl and Shift keys when you click a mouse ton, you’ll access the contextual menus These are often overlooked but are veryhandy (In fact, if screen real estate is very tight, you can give yourself a bit ofextra room by hiding the toolbar using the Interface tab of the Display Optionspanel and just use contextual menus.)

but-By default, the left mouse button menu has the stuff at the bottom of thewindow and a few extras The right mouse button has the stuff that you’ll find atthe top of the toolbar The middle mouse button, if you have one, will give youaccess to every tool in Modeler

You can change what’s on those menus by using the Edit Menu Layout mand (Shift+Command+RMB Modeler>Interface>Edit Menu Layout or justOption/Alt+F10) So you can tailor them to the way you work

com-Versions: 6.5-8

180 Robin Wood | Interface Navigation | All Levels

Spacebar Toggle in Layout

Use the Spacebar in Layout to toggle between the Position, Rotation, Size,and Stretch tools This makes it a lot quicker to do the initial positioning of yourmodel

Versions: 7.5c-8

Program Setup | 65Interface Navigation

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181 Steve Warner | Interface Navigation | Beginner

Constrain Rotation

If you hold the Ctrl key down while using the Rotate View button in eler’s Perspective view, you can constrain the rotation

Mod-Versions: 6-8

182 William “Proton” Vaughan, Steve Warner | Interface Navigation | All Levels

Quickly Remove Envelopes

To remove an Envelope or Texture from an item, simply Shift+left-click theEnvelope or Texture button This is perfect for when you accidentally click onone and want to remove it quickly

Alternatively, right-clicking the “E” envelope button for many parameters inLightWave 8 will allow you to add, copy, paste, and remove envelopes, as well

as add an expression to an envelope

to more items of the currently selected type, if any (If there aren’t any, it willtake the type with the most items.)

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You can add more things of that type by holding down the Shift key anddragging, or by Shift-clicking on individual unselected objects To remove indi-vidual objects from the selection, Shift-click on them.

So, for instance, if you wanted to select all the lights on the right side of yourviewport, all you have to do is select one of them, hold down the middle mousebutton, and draw the marquee around all the others Since only things of the typealready selected will be added to the selection, you won’t have to worry aboutcameras, bones, or objects getting caught

or backward

Versions: 6.5-7.5

185 Robin Wood | Interface Navigation | Beginner to Intermediate

Changing Focus in Three Clicks

If you need to make small adjustments to several widely separated parts ofyour model, there’s no need to pan forever in a close view Just tap the “a” key

to zoom out so you can see the whole thing, draw a lasso around the part youneed to adjust with the right mouse button, and then tap Shift+a to zoom in tothe selection Make your adjustment, zoom back out, and select the next area tomove quickly through the task

Versions: 6.5-8

186 Robin Wood | Interface Navigation | Beginner to Intermediate

Bilocation — Zooming in on Two Widely Separated Points Simultaneously

If you need to see a close-up of two widely separated points in the model atthe same time, just assign the same view to two (or more) viewports, and centerthe areas you need to see in each one (Tap “g” on the keyboard to center thespot under the cursor.) This works particularly well for things like rotating abeam so it just touches the rooftree on one end, and the wall on the other

Versions: 6.5-8

187 Dave Jerrard | Interface Navigation | All Levels

Mouse Zoom Tricks

When holding down the Alt key in Layout, you can use the mouse wheel tozoom in and out in all view modes, except Camera and Light

Versions: 7-7.5

Program Setup | 67Interface Navigation

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More Mouse Tricks

Using the mouse wheel while holding the Ctrl key down will step throughthe animation, one frame per click Scrolling up advances forward; scrollingdown steps back

Version: 7.5

189 Steve Warner | Interface Navigation | Beginner

Panning the Timeline

Pressing the Alt key while clicking and dragging on Layout’s timeline willallow you to pan through the timeline The span of time between the first frameand last frame will remain consistent as you pan

Versions: 6-8

Tricks in Graph Editor

If you hold the Alt key down while in the Graph Editor, you can pan thegraph around, just as if you were using the pan gadget in the upper-right corner

Version: 7.5

More Tricks in Graph Editor

Scrolling the mouse wheel will zoom in and out in the Graph Editor

Version: 7.5

More Tricks in Graph Editor 2

If you hold the Ctrl key down while scrolling the mouse wheel in the GraphEditor, you can scroll the graph display left or right Holding both Ctrl and Altdown while scrolling will scroll the graph vertically

Version: 7.5

Undo Data Entry

If you’ve accidentally typed a value into a numeric field, as might happenwhen you use the keypad to change view modes without realizing that the cursor

is still active in the first or last frame field (or any other input field), you canretrieve the original value for that field by pressing Ctrl+z Of course, if you’vehit Enter, the old value is gone

Versions: 7-7.5

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