STEALING FEATURES: (What features should LW STEAL from the competition?)

#61

This is not about stealing features, my suggestion is related to the product policy. I like the way Maxon surprises the C4D users with new and innovative modules and updates. Maxon doesn’t announce a new product prematurely - they simply release it when it’s finished (“Hair”, “MoGraph”). LW 9 was announced to ship by the end of 2005, now it’s almost May 2006. Sure, there is the open beta program but that’s not the same as releasing a product.

#62

I agree that it is best to just release the software when it is done, but at the same time people might have thought LW was dead if we didnt get to hear about what was going on at NewTek. Once they get a more continous release interval for LW, they can start to just release new versions whenever it is ready.

#63

The info on why and how is here>
http://www.newtek.com/lightwave/lwfuturedev.php

“This is called a “parallel changeover” in the development world, and is often considered the best approach to take when you have an actively used product in the marketplace. If we were to have followed what others have done (max, wavefront->Maya, xsi) we would go dark for a long period of time, forcing users to wait years for the results. We do not view that approach as practical, given market conditions, and the fact that our customers have been very loyal to us. So, by using the parallel changeover model, we can make available new technologies earlier in the process, far earlier than they would have been with any other approach (as you will see at SIGGRAPH, where we have overhauled and upgraded some major core systems.)”

#64

How about Camera tracking? :oP

#65

Parametric Animation for motion graphics. Layout and Modeler Integrated.

#66

…did anyone say, “Icons”? trueSpace has more than it needs and would probably
be happy to let LW have some. LOL (at my own dumb joke)

Seriously, is there a commandment that states, “Thou shalt not make any icons in LW”?

One of the problems I have with the gui is that everything is text…you have to read it and think about it, or memorize which one from the top is the one you want.

An icon, in contrast, if done well as in Carrara or Bryce, are so intutive you just use it.

Also, how about some NURBS tools? Also found in most other “high (and even low) -end” apps. Will it be a cold day in you-know-where before we see any?

Thanks for asking! :thumbsup:

#67

I know…I posted something similar back in March at another sites LW forum. (Less the stealing part)

http://www.renderosity.com/mod/forumpro/showthread.php?thread_id=2691032

But parts of the new trueSpace interface does resemble Lightwave’s interface to me a bit also.

Tom

#68

Tom, thanks for that link…I’ve been trying to get a feel for why TS isn’t more popular
among the pros. I don’t know how anyone could dis-miss it after seeing the excellent
art of Griff Wason, or if they took the time to try it out to see how easy it is to create
and manipulate objects. It may lack in other areas compared to Max, Maya, or XSI
(I can’t say as I’m too new), but for modeling, it’s great.

I’m doing things easily with it that seem to be impossible in LW (I know LW can do almost
anything in the right hands…just not in mine yet).

I would like to be able to use Lightwave as easily and intuitively as trueSpace.…that’s the bottom line. I know more new users would be attracted to it as well.

I’m glad there are so many great apps to choose from…competition is gooood! :thumbsup:

#69

Delete modeler and create a maya based modeling system. Layout lighting is perfect!

#70

actually, the consensus has indeed been that lwers hate icons. over several years of forum reading that’s what hits me.

also, i’m definitely part of that consensus! :slight_smile:

but i think this may be a person by person thing… the reaction that you have to text is exactly the reaction i have to an icon… and the reaction that you typed about icons, that’s exactly how i would describe text!

BUT, nowadays, with the instantaneous tool tips with the popup text, i don’t see that they’re mutually exclusive anymore. if they had floating tool tips like zbrush or even a message line tool tip like maya, i wouldn’t be opposed to icons now.

i do disagree on you about “some nurbs tools”… i would rather not have ANY implementation of nurbs than an implementation that offers none of the actual benefits of nurbs (like trims, blends, etc). that is, i’d rather not have a blender implementation or a max version 2(? was it 2?) implementation.

it seems to me that there are enough things already that are there but in a somewhat halfbaked incarnation and i’d rather not have any more.

actually, regarding nurbs, we have nurbs SPLINES through lwcad 2 now… i’m hoping eventually, we will have nurbs surfaces through lwcad as well…

and i personally don’t need my nurbs surfaces to be renderable or transferable to layout. make it just like the lwcad nurbs curves and keep it as construction aids in modeler and let me slice and dice, time and blend non destructively in modeler, then i’ll tesselate and surface and render polys.

imo, that’s the best that we can hope for and if we get that, i’d be totally good to go.

jin

#71

I agree…it’s probably a personal preference…I just find icons easier to remember.
I bought LW a few years ago, and haven’t bonded with it yet. In contrast, even though
I was put off initially by trueSpace’s icon-o-mania, I now find it a much easier app to learn.
No doubt LW is a great app, but I don’t have the time or patience to learn it.

TS has more than enough bells & whistles to do what I want.

Happy Lightwaving from a happy trueSpacer. :wink:

#72

cool. i’m glad you found a good fit. happy truespacing. btw, what version are they at now?

jin

#73

7.5 + 3 video courses for $395.

#74

The ability to set the dimensions of the UV quadrant as non-square constraints.
A better animator than Layout…
A better lighting system.
An uv unwrap method like modo’s.
Way less plugins to do this and that (it is becoming a plugin-dependant app).

#75

I love LW’s modeler but, it needs the cut tool from 3ds Max.
Work planes from Modo would be nice too.

#76

let me import *.step files…and I promise to dump Maya immediatly

#77

Just integrate Modeler and Layout. I mean come on. Lightwave is the only one that has modeling and animation as two separate programs. It gets annoying after awhile having to send all of your stuff over to Layout when you should just be able to do it right then and there.

#78

Brush based modeling AND texturing FTW!!!

#79

The list goes on for miles, but I’ll say CORE is supposedly fixing most of these issues:

  1. One integrated suite.

  2. Non-destructive modelling. Node-based, preferably.

  3. Steal every f&¨*ng snapping and selection tools from Modo. Including the Workplane idea.

  4. Redo the animation tools from scratch and maybe something good will come out.

#80

Trying LW10, and still no news about a decent snap to grid and point align feature? Hey LW crew, are you kidding? Some 30 years that you develope LW, and still at the same point?