Cool lightwave plugin/previewer !

#181

Do we have at least an approximate release date, or is it still in “alpha”?

Is it going to be available when LW9 releases (that would be around June probably:rolleyes: )?

#182

I think there’s been allot of questions about the release and I have yet to see an answer. With that there answer is probably…“When it’s done”.

#183

Yes, deep in my soul I already knew that was the answer, but I had to ask it anyway.
Just to calm down the anxiety I feel everytime I check this thread out. Group therapy. :slight_smile:

#184

I am beta testing PIM at the moment, and I can reassure you that its all as it seems to be and then some. I must admit that when I first saw it, I thought it was too good to be true and wasnt sure it was even real. I have been proven wrong!

First of all it has got a fully functional Javascript engine that enables you to do object oriented scripting, so if you have ever used Flash Actionscript you should feel right at home. Having used Macromedia Director for years, I have been spoilt with a 3D engine that is easy to script, and together with Enki and his team I am doing all I can to see that PIM is even easier to script than that. You can create a complete game with PIM if you want to, its not just a previewer that replaces LW’s own OpenGL view. Expect PIM scripting tutorials from me when the engine is released.

The second part of its greatness is the lack of exporting needed. All realtime engines that I know of, need the graphic artists to export their graphics and models to a certain format, before the programmers can make the models interactive (be it in games or simulation). With PIM you stick to LWO and LWS files, and PIM figures out the rest when compiling the EXE/Web plugin/Screensaver. Thats also great, you can create a web-game and exe game (or some other interactive 3d) by the click of a button, no need to change all sorts of settings in your project.

You can be sure that your bones animated models play back properly inside PIM, and the same goes for settings such as Target Item. If you set a model to target another item in your scene, then moving the target through code will not break the targeting set in the motion options.

On the aspect of visual capabilities, take a look at the specs:

  • Bump mapping
  • Specular mapping
  • Realtime DOF
  • Realtime shadows
  • Additive glow effects
  • Cel shading
  • Render to texture (for realtime reflections)
  • Using native LW formats!

Just to put it short: PIM is so much more than a previewer, and I can promise you that it is one of the greatest 3D engines out there, from both a technical point of view and from a usability point of view.

#185

Good enough for me.

Sorry to everyone involved, not trying to be a jerk, I guess I just don’t fully understand what all this is about. I’ll take your word that this is the real deal, as Eshra has vouched for it. I really am a cynic, so when someone posts some footage of something and claims miraculous things, I get a little skeptical.

Once again, just chalk this up to my ignorance of the subject, sorry if I offended anyone.

#186

not that’s it’s my place, but personally i think skepticism is a good thing and more than justifiable. keeps a nice set of checks and balances, IMHO. :beer:

#187

The video quality isn’t all that, but it’s allready 30 meg like this, so I guess
it’ll do …

demonstrating :

  • high polygoncount scene (900k polys)
  • fast preview render to disk / motionblur
  • rt volumetric lighting
  • interactive scene, exe compiler
  • avi textures
  • tangent space normalmapping, interactive character anim
  • first person walkaround, parallax normalmapping, rt dof, web applets

Just uploaded a better quality smaller version (divx codec, 20meg)

Download the avi here …

Let me know what you think …

#188

Well, it looks impressive. What else can I say. I’ll leave the technical questions for people here that know what they’re talking about. I wish you all the best for finishing this plug.

I hope you’ll spend enough time on making it user-friendly for the non-programmer-kind-of-people, like me. Also that you provide enough tutorials and a dedicated forum when it “goes gold”.

Personally I would like to use it as a ‘previewer’ for my animations, so the PIM-view has to be close to the final render, and that seems to be the case. Also, I would like to use it for architectural walkthroughs, for which I have Anark-studio now, but their price has been raised enormously. And if I (the non-programmer-type) would be able to add some interactivity to these walkthroughs, I would be most satisfied.

Good luck! :slight_smile:

#189

dear Enki

what do i think?

WELL I CANT THINK! I AM NOT SURE WHAT THE HECK I AM WATCHING.

THIS THING IS A MILESTONE in Lightwave Layout.

So…I really Dont know what to say… Totally A W E S O M E!!! SO i am telling you add some more Codes and deliver this as the Lightwave 3d Engine…

That GUI making Within Lightwave, that Normal Mapped Level, That awesome normal mapped lady… What the heck is going on in Belgium, enki? Is there another Area 51 overthere??? are you a cylon? do you have more copies of yourself? do you think you are a human???

BEST! thing i have seen in Lightwave Layout.

#190

Quick question: Will PIM support front-projection and transparency mapping? If so, PIM would be a great help in high resolution camera mapping projects.

#191

Wow… with all the restrictions in the SDK, this plugin is simply amazing. As a preview/animatic tool, this would save alot of time… really!!!

Great work!

#192

That´s amazing, indeed. Keep it up!

#193

Cost and eta for purchase date?
This has now piqued my curiosity and interest.

Great demo. Thanks.

#194

mwahahaha!! Simply unbelievable !

#195

that, my friends, was pant-wetting excitement. wow is really the only word for it.

question. how deliverable are the web-based walk throughs? small enough to put online? would those be more mac friendly than the .exes?

#196

Yah mon,
Point us to a website with one of these doodads.

#197

What I know is, that you can map external input e.g. webcam to a surface. There’s also a chromakeyer. And everything in realtime.
And I’m very confident in the work Enki is doing. He knows this stuff (and much more) inside out :slight_smile:
Expect a great tool.

Pim’s possibilities are endless…

#198

dear Cageman

I think This Plugin has R E D E F I N E D something in Lightwave. For years i have been reading same thing “Lightwave SDK is restricted. IT is impossible with lightwave…etc.etc”

This effort should be a real example about restrictions and restriction’s excusers.

I have seen MAX’s first person perspective videos but WHAT is this?? I mean For the first time in my life i was keep stopping the video to UNDERSTAND where the HELL i am looking at and what the heck is going on… Is it Lightwave ? no …hey yes…It is Layout? YES But what is that thing? A city? A level? Quake 3’s normal mapped level with insane FPS numbers? Wait a minute…No He is CLICKING something on …DAMn this is a GUI…

My understanding about programming on Lightwave SDK has been eternally altered and expanded. This thing will open new horizons for many users even other developers.

BEST thing in Lightwave Layout.

#199

thats simply amazing stuff

:bounce: :applause: :bounce: :applause: :bounce:

#200

“how deliverable are the web-based walk throughs? small enough to put online?”

the exes i have checked so far range from a few kb to a few mb,
so no 100mb’s of files to transfer.

mlon