Subject: LW 5.0 Feature List
From: Adam Ives Chrystie <[email-masked]>
To: Multiple recipients of list <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 15 Apr 1996 21:56:41 -0700

SOURCE: Grue, a NewTek slave on IRC

What's new in LightWave 3D 5.0

There have been many additions to LightWave 3D. In fact there have been
nearly 200 new features added! Here is a quick glance at some of the
highlights.

Modeler

* Open GL support for real time shaded views. Acknowledges surface
attributes such as Diffusion, Specularity, Luminosity, and Smoothing

* METANURBS Modeling Tool. This new tool combines the ease and flexibility
of polygonal modeling with the power and organic feel of NURBS modeling.

* Metaballs Modeling Plug In.  Powerful Organic modeling!

* Metaform2 Plug In.  Enhancment to the orginal metaform which allows you to
metaform polygons with more than four points.

*New Spline Modeling Tools

* Surface editing in Modeler.

* Tablet Support.  Allows absolute versus relative input devices.

* Randomization for Bevel and Array tools.                      

* Data sharing between Layout and Modeler.  Import and Export are Back!

*Enhanced True Type Support             

* Massive Redraw Speed Enhancements.  

* Lasso Style Zoom

Layout

* Open GL support for real time shaded views. Includes support for up to 8
interactive lights   (Distant,  Point, or Spot). Acknowledges surface
attributes such as Diffusion, Specularity, Luminosity, Outline Only, and
Smoothing

*** Infinite Surface Layering! *** 

* Alpha channels allowed on image mapping.

* New Cel Animation Features for Cel edges and Cel rendering. Make 3D look
hand drawn!

* MetaMation: A new organic animation plug-in that automatically smoothes
an object with Metaform before each frames' render.

* Bone Enhancements including, Joint Compensation, and Muscle Flexing.

* Inverse Kinematics improvements including active goals and goal
strengths.

* Multiple Target Object Morphing from one envelope.

* New Lens Flare modes including, central ring color and size
modifications, and star filter enhancements.

* Many User Interface Enhancements

* Color Swatches in RGB fields

* Interactive Camera Zoom Level 

* Interactive Light Cone Angle

* Front Face View of objects for faster redraw and cleaner interface

* Color BKG images

* Render Sample Cube.

* Copy surfaces from rendered samples.

* New Plug In classes including Pixel Filter and Special Buffers for new
rendering and shader effects.

* Project images through spot lights.

* User definable Texture Map anti-aliasing.

* AutoKey Create mode for ultra-fast keyframe set up.

* Open GL Previews.

* Tiling and Alpha Channel options for Texture Maps.

* Dolly, Truck, and Pan capability allowing movement along any item's
axis.

* Effector: Allows a null object to interactively deform a mesh.

Plug In features included with LightWave 5.0

Equation
Lwpanels
Globsave
Effector: The Motion plug-in Effector 
InheritRotation    
JitterMotion 
MathMotion    
ParentBone    
ParentCamera    
ParentLight
ObjList
ObjectSequence
Effector: Displacement Map Plug-in 
LazyPoints
Metamation
Blotch    
CelShader    
Checker    
ColorCube    
HSLColorCube   
NormalColor   
SurfBlurShader    
SurfFuzzShader   
Weave   
ZOR    (Plug-in file: Zor.p)
BlurFilter
Convolve 
Emboss
Gamma
Negative
NightVision   
NTSC_Legalize   
PAL_Legalize   
PENNELLO    
Sepia    
SpecialBuffer    
SurfBlurFilter    
SurfFuzzFilter    
VidNoise    
Vignette    
Watermark  
AVI Savers
Image Loaders/Savers

    The formats HIIPSave.p allows you to load and save in Layout are:
Alias(.als), BMP(.bmp), Cineon(.cin), IFF(.iff), JPEG(.jpg), PCX(.pcx),
Pict(.pic), Pixar(.pxr), QRT(.qrt), Rendition(.6rn), SGI(.rgb), Sun(.sun),
TIFF(.tif), Targa32(.tga), Toaster(.vti), Wavefront(.rla), XWIndows(.xwd),
YUV(.yuv)

Storybrd.p
FilmExpand   
4XStoryboard    

ImageList    
MotionDump
AllBGLayers    
Arn_Calculate    
BoundingBox    
Cage   
Calculate    
Center   
Center1D    
CenterScale    
CenterStretch    
CutCurves  
Envelopes    
Gear    
ImpSurf3D   
Julienne    
LightSwarm    
LoadFonts    
MathMotion    
NextEmptyLayer    
PathToMotion    
Platonic    
Plot1D    
Plot2D    
PointCenter    
PolyEdgeShaper    
New Primitives   
Donut
        Wedge
Spline Cage
Random Points
Gear

RandPricks   
RotateAnyAxis    
RotateHPB   
SceneToVRML   
Stipple    
SuperQuadric   
Symmetrize    
TextCompose    
TextCurve    
Throw   
Toroid    
Translator3DOptions   
VRMLAutoSave    
VRMLSave    
Wedge   
Add-Metaball   
AutoPatcher   
AutoPatcherMK   
BGConform   
Converge_Points   
Fast-Triple-Fan   
Fast-Triple-Traverse   
Make_DoubleSided    
MakeSpikey   
Metaballs   
MetaFormPlus   
Points2Polys   
Power-Texture   
PowerView   
RandPoints    
Reduce-Polygons   
Rest-On-Ground   
Rotate-About-Normal   
Rotate-Arbitrary-Axis   
Rotate-To-Ground    
Rotate-To-Object    
Spherize    
Squarize    
Translator3D-Export    
TriangleFan    
TriangleStrip    

----------------------------------
Adam Chrystie LightWave 3D Animator
Cinema/Video Major, Senior
University Of California at Santa Cruz