What is LightWave?
LightWave 3D is a complete 3D modeling, animation and rendering solution that enables artists to create amazing visuals for film, television, games, architecture, advertising and design projects. Originally developed by NewTek in the early 1990s, LightWave has been used for many feature films and television shows to create visual effects, animated characters, 3D environments and more.
Some key features and benefits of LightWave 3D include:
- Powerful and intuitive modeling tools like subsurface polygon modeling, procedural modeling, instancing and more
- Advanced texturing and UV workflow for creating detailed and photo-realistic textures
- Robust rigging and animation toolset with bones, constraints, deformers and more
- Node-based material and shader system for creating complex shaders
- Accurate lighting and render engine with support for ray tracing, shadows, caustics and more
- Graphical workflow for setting up scenes, defining cameras, lights and exporting renders
- Extensive format support for importing and exporting content to and from other software
LightWave is used in television, film, games, product design, architecture, education and more. It offers artists and designers a complete set of tools to bring their visions to life with stunning clarity and realism.
SketchUp, Blender, Lumion, Autodesk Maya, Autodesk 3ds Max, Cinema 4D, Houdini, Enscape3D, picoCAD, Wings 3D, Twinmotion, Animation Master, Bforartists, messiahStudio, Akeytsu, CharacterFX, MachStudio Pro, Bakery Relight are some alternatives to LightWave.