Lightwave releases FREE 9.6 UPGRD (New Shaders, Third Party Render, +more...)

#1

From the LW forums:
Happy Holiday 3D News from NewTek!
Happy Holidays, everybody!

I would like to let you know that as of today’s build, 1525, we are now at release candidate status. As you know, it has been a long road, but many positive things have occurred during this cycle. We started off to do a maintenance release only, but in the process, we have managed to add quite a few new features, and have really extended the functionality of LightWave. In particular, massive improvements to FiberFX, in terms of reliability and performance, as well as some new features have been made. Inverse Kinematics has seen dramatic improvements since 9.5, and those improvements in 9.5 were incredible when compared against previous versions.

The node editor has seen several new nodes, including the infamous car paint material, which begat the new flakes shader (my favorite!). Improvements to reflection speed, area light speed and quality, and anti-aliasing have been performed. GI has really seen a ton of work as well, with improvements to the animation cache, sampling and overall image quality.

In fact, so much has been improved in this version, including so many bugs sent to Valhalla, that we have realized that this is far more than just a bugfix release…

So, just in time for the holiday season, we welcome to the world LightWave v9.6.

You knew that was coming, didn’t you?

In addition to all the stuff mentioned previously, LightWave v9.6 will bring the Mac and the PC versions back in sync. During the v9 series we have worked really hard to make this happen, and it has not been easy. You Mac users know what a difficult path it has been. You know that we have been performing a tremendous amount of work to allow FPrime to work in an optimal fashion with the UB version of LightWave – as those who have been reading the SDK improvements can appreciate. As you read this, we are putting the finishing touches on the Mac as well, and we will be proud to say that this is the BEST version of LightWave for the Mac EVER.

Another notable advance, external rendering engines can now work as a LightWave task directly using the F9 and F10 commands, just like LightWave itself (updates are required from those products from their respective manufacturers, and of course, those products will need to conform to the v9.6 SDK.)

The v9 series has had a great run, and we have managed to pack an INCREDIBLE VALUE into the money you spent. Several major free releases occurred in the series, with hundreds of cool new features, and thousands of bugs killed. Any reasonable person would have to agree that no other 3D content creation product has EVER packed as much value and coolness for one low price as we here at NewTek have packed into LightWave. Personally, I am very proud of our development team – they came to the project under an untenable situation, and really stepped up. They performed above and beyond, and are some of the best engineers I have ever had the opportunity to work with in my career.

This dedicated group of people, from all over the world, has delivered to you what is arguably the single best version of LightWave ever. They have done so with major releases coming to you in less than 12 months at a time. The passion that this development team has for LightWave is equal to your own passion for LightWave.

We are getting to the point to where we are wrapping up the LightWave 9 series, and ready to move on to the next phase of LightWave’s journey. We’ll talk more about that just after the first of the year. There are many surprises in store, and we can’t wait to tell you about them.

Thank you so much for your enthusiasm and dedication to LightWave, and for your support of NewTek for all of these years.

All the best!

Jay Roth
NewTek
www.lightwave3d.com

#2

Very cool!

#3

When will it be available for download.

#4

hey what the hell i went go get 9.6 its not out yet some one let the cat out of the bag here…
Roberto…:stuck_out_tongue:

#5

This was truly a great cycle for LightWave, and all free updates. One could tell the dedication and hard work put in to the application do to the, almost daily, updates in the beta. I appreciate all the hard work NewTek…amazing new features & makes me excited for v10!

#6

Go to beta dls to get it: http://register.newtek.com/
It doesn’t say “9.6”, but fear not… Use your permanent license key, from 9.3/.5

#7

thanks Tonttu i installed it and ready to play…

#8

Where do I find this “beta dls” ?

Only have v9.5 available under “my download” menu

#9

You have to sign up for the open beta and get a beta key in order to have access to the beta releases.

I’ll wait until the official release.

#10

Thanks for that Steve.

I`ll wait for the official release

#11

I think you only have to sign up for the beta to get to the download, but you can use your regular serial. Worked for me at least…

#12

I hope NT doesn’t neglect lw’s modeling capabilities.

#13

It’s been a treat seeing Newtek’s progress on 9. The new animation tools look very impressive. Apparently the dev team are integrating Modeler with Layout which should hopefully lead to individual animateable vertex manipulation.

#14

Apparently?!? :hmm: Nothing has been announced.

#15

I remember reading Newtek info indicating a long term intention (doubtless beyond the 9 cycle) was to add modelling tools in Layout whilst preseving Modeler as an option. In fact a few basic modelling tool tabs e.g primitives have already started to appear in Layout (never tried using them though).

#16

From the LW FAQ pages on the NewTek Site:
“The migration of modeling tools into Layout will be longer and more involved than we first thought, and we are putting a great deal of thought and effort into the design. There are many issues in Layout that need to be addressed in order for us to really open up modeling power in Layout, but we are working on them with dedication. The design and implementation work will need to continue beyond the v9 cycle.”

#17

IMO, the worst thing they can do is follow the usual Newtek path off botching bits together…ie. sticking modeller tools in layout. Instead, they’d be better off going back to the drawing board and working on a sensible way of integrating the two apps into one. Otherwise they’re going to paint themselves even further into a corner by blurring the roles of each application and nobody will know what they’re supposed to use for what.

#18

Yes, they’ve got to restructure.
(instead of mixing).

#19

…and organize & simplify.

#20

I think NewTek realise that the only way forward is a complete rewrite.