Lightwave files

If you know that the path to the Content directory is the same as the path selected for the. Else, if you know that the path to the Content directory is the parent of the path selected for the.

Break Apart Object By Combo Box One of the advanced internal features of this LightWave importer is its ability to break apart explode a LightWave. Don't break apart object. If this checkbox is enabled check-marked then the. Surface Material Name If this checkbox is enabled check-marked then each imported LightWave object will be exploded into separate sub-objects based on the surface material names assigned to the polygons in the objects. This is a useful option because it will allow you to modify the various sub-pieces of each object much easier than if you do not explode the object.

Take for example an object which is a human head. All of the polygons are stored in a single LightWave object. The head has multiple surfaces assigned to it, including a surface for the mouth, eyes, hair, face and eye brows. By enabling this option the human head will be exploded into separate sub-objects. Layer Name LW6 or newer only If this checkbox is enabled check-marked then the imported. If there are 2 or more layers in the final exploded object then they will be grouped together under a new empty-instance folder.

If you import the. Prior to version 6 these uv coordinates could not be transferred from other 3D programs into LightWave since LightWave 5. However, the new uv texture mapping system of LightWave provides just a bit too much generality to allow every possible variation of uv mapping to be converted to other 3D programs. In LightWave 6 each and every texture map can have its own set of uv texture coordinates called a 'uv map'. This provides great generality since a single mesh object could potentially have one or more surfaces assigned to it materials , and each material could have an unlimited number of texture maps texture decals each of which uses its own set of uv texture coordinates or its own uv texture projection icon.

Unfortunately, many 3d file formats only allow one set of uv texture coordinates to be associated with the raw mesh itself, and not an unlimited number to be associated with each texture layer. This importer must convert from the uv-map-per-texture method to the uv-map per mesh method. The importer uses an intelligent algorithm to create a single uv-map for the entire mesh. It basically applies the LightWave 6 uv maps to the mesh object, texture layer by texture layer until all layers of all materials have been considered for the mesh.

The options of this drop-down box determine in which order the uv-maps are applied to the mesh object: Apply uv maps last to first The uv-maps are applied from last to first. For example, if a surface material has 4 texture layers assigned to it, and each layer has a different set of uv coordinates or texture projection methods, then the uv coordinates will be applied to the method starting from the last texture layer and proceeding to the first texture layer.

This ensures that at least the first texture layer will get rendered properly in the destination package. Apply first uv map only Only the uv coordinates from the first texture layer are used to create the uv coordinates for the imported mesh. Apply last uv map only Only the uv coordinates from the last texture layer are used to create the uv coordinates for the imported mesh.

Vertex Normals Processing This combo box determines if the vertex normals from the. In general, use the default value. If you are importing from older Modo files, and find that the vertex normals look wrong or an inverted, then choose the third combo box option.

History and background: Prior to the LightWave. This mesh attribute is quite important, as it defines the overall smoothness of mesh models and is most critical to the import of CAD models via the. A few years later Newtek released LightWave v9. No not import explicit vertex normals If this combo box option is chosen then the explicit vertex normals found within the.

Then, if the Compute vertex smoothing normals checkbox is enabled, new normals will automatically be computed for each mesh based on vertex connectivity which is only approximate. Import vertex normals LW 9. This only exists for files written by 1 LightWave 9.

This is the default value. This should be chosen when. Basically, you should choose this option if you feel that the imported vertex normals look incorrect they are inverted. Compute vertex smoothing normals If this checkbox is enabled then new vertex normals will be computed for the raw imported geometry.

These vertex normals are required if the geometry is to appear smooth when rendered. The smoothing criterion is based on the angle between abutting polygons; common smoothed vertex normals will be computed if the angle between their geometric surfaces normals is less than the angle specified on the dialog box which defaults to 89 degrees.

This value will be overridden if a LightWave surface definition has a smoothing angle specified for it. Convert Texture Projections To Explicit uv Coordinates LightWave has two primary methods to specify how texture maps are to be aligned to polygons of an object: texture projections such as planar, cylindrical, spherical and box , or via explicit uv texture coordinates the latter only for LightWave 6.

If this option is enabled then the texture projections which are associated with a LightWave surface definition will be converted to explicit uv texture coordinates during the import phase.

In general you will want to keep this option enabled for the most accurate texture mapping. If this option is disabled then the LightWave texture projections will be turned into equivalent internal Okino texture projections; the Okino texture projections will only be converted to explicit uv texture coordinates during a rendering process or when the mesh is re-exported.

The correspondence between the LightWave and Okino texture projections are 1-to-1 identical. However, LightWave assigns texture projections to each texture layer of a material while Okino software assigns texture projections on a per-object basis. Thus, if a LightWave object has 2 or more different texture projections assigned to it then you will have to change the "Break Object Apart By This is necessary to that the mesh gets exploded by surface material name and thus Okino software can apply its texture projection icon to each new object properly.

Make Surface Names Material Names Unique If this checkbox is enabled check-marked then the import converter will append each imported surface name material name with a number to make it unique should it find that the name is already defined in the internal 3d scene database. The checkbox is enabled by default. If the checkbox is disabled un-checkmarked then the import converter will not make the surface names unique even if an identical surface name exists within the 3d scene database.

You may want to disable this option so that multiple geometry meshes share the same surface definition. Import Vertex Colors If this checkbox is enabled check-marked then vertex colors will be imported and assigned to the mesh polygons. See the Add-ons Community project page for more information on the workflow. I'm trying to import this official NASA file, but the imported model only contains vertices. No edges or faces. I'm using Blender 2. I tried installing this addon, but there is a message that says Upgrade to 2.

But I'm on 2. Perhaps I didn't install it correctly? It gave me a script. I saved it using notepad. Is this the correct way? I saved it as a. I have the same issue in Blender 2. I assume this means the plugin needs to be updated for Blender 2. If yes, when can we expect this plugin to be updated? I have a number of old lwo files made in the Mac version of Lightwave that I'd like to import into blender. Is there any other route to achieve that? I'm merely looking for a way to re-use the models, I don't care about any other features of the Lightwave files.

Create Task. Import: LightWave object file. Edit Task Edit Related Tasks Ken Nign ken9. Software that open lightwave file. Add comment. The surface has a detailed list of attributes, such as color, shade, glossiness, reflection mode, refractive index, transparency, texture. LightWave 3D. LightWave 3D is a 3D computer graphics editor used to produce 3D rendering images. LightWave contains advanced features as realistic reflection and refraction, radiosity, and caustics.

Hint: Click on the tab below to simply browse between the application actions, to quickly get a list of recommended software, which is able to perform the specified software action, such as opening, editing or converting lightwave files. Some of those artifacts can be seen as blooming areas of brightness, color bleed, luminance spill, lens streaking, and many other visual cues that tell the viewer there is a very bright light source in the scene.

These very bright surfaces can also contribute to the overall lighting of a scene. For example, sunlight streaming into a room will bounce off the floor and add a subtle illumination to the walls and ceiling that would otherwise be left dark this bouncing of light is known as radiosity.

All of these effects can be seen in images captured by devices that do not support high dynamic ranges. Because computer graphics applications were designed to output to devices that would not understand pixel values above RGB , , , most applications do not provide for any value to exceed these limits.

LightWave, however, calculates all internal data without limits and with IEEE floating-point accuracy. This means that when LightWave points a light at a surface, while the final rendered pixel may reach only RGB , , for pure white, internally that pixel may have reached ten times that amount. This may not seem significant at first glance - white is white after all - but, if we look at how LightWave utilizes that data, it becomes very exciting. LightWave can utilise high dynamic range detail, as it is generated internally e.

This can be imagery generated from a series of photographs taken at various exposures and composited see Recovering High Dynamic Range Radiance Maps from Photographs by Paul E. Debevec and Jitendra Malik at or data rendered in LightWave saved in one of the high dynamic range formats. Once these images are imported into the system, they can be used just like any other image in LightWave 3D e. During the rendering process LightWave will respect the extra data in the image to assist in secondary lighting and other calculations.

Imagine using a high dynamic range image as an environment wrap e. With the appropriate imagery you can illuminate a scene without any lights and the results will match the look and feel of the original photograph.

Once LightWave finishes rendering, you can export images with the same high dynamic range data. This lets you bring that data back into LightWave or into compositing applications that support such data. Using this extra data in the compositing process is very important as it can more accurately represent imagery as it would look if it were recorded directly to film. For example, compositing applications could use the extra dynamic range data to calculate the amount of diffuse bloom or color bleed from one pixel to the next.

Any filter can be designed to take advantage of the high dynamic range data with floating-point accuracy.