We know that you have LightWave training alternatives to the Washburn Workshops taught by Bob Anderson so we provide you with the topics covered in this three-day class so you know what you are learning when you commit the time and money required for these classes. Class runs from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. with optional evening lab practice time from 8:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. You are strongly encouraged to bring a list of questions or mini-projects to evening lab practice time. If you have taken LightWave 3D Essentials from Bob, you should be ready for all the skills covered in this class. All participants in this workshop or the "LightWave 3D Essentials" workshop receive a copy of "Inside LightWave 3D" by Dan Ablan.

Topics covered include but are not limited to:

Morphing

• Image and object metamorphing
• Creating objects for morphing
• Linearity of morphing
• Loading source and target objects
• Setting a morph amount
• Using an envelope
• Metamorph envelope panel
• Creating morph keys
• Delete key
• Drag key
• Moving and zooming the view of the envelope
• Auto limits
• Saving and loading envelopes
• End behavior
• Copy / paste keys for repeating morphs
• Killing the polys from target objects
• What kinds of motions are best done with morphs?
• What are the limitations?
• MTSE
• Multiple morphs
• Morph surfaces

Bones

• Designing an object for skeletal deformation
• Designing a skeleton
• Problems with bones
• How bones affect objects
• Moving bones
• Creating keys
• Rest position
• Bone size vs. rest length
• Bone active
• Additng additional bones
• Adding child bones
• Adding "thumb tacks"
• How moving a bone alters the object
• How moving the object alters the bones
• Joint compensation
• Muscle flexing
• When do you use a hierarchy? When do you use bones?

Intermediate surfacing techniques

• How do procedural maps work?
• How do you know the size?
• How do you pick the texture axis?
• Using multiple procedurals
• Stacking textures
• Texture alpha
• Using layered textures
• Fitting textures to your objects
• Image mapping
• Layered image maps
• Advanced ray tracing
• Advanced transparency tricks
• Clip mapping
• Displacement mapping
• UV mapping
• Hand painting textures
• Image color vs. value
• Surfacing plug-ins

MetaForm

• What does MetaForm do?
• What is a NURB?
• How does Open GL work?
• How can I tell what my object will look like once I MetaForm it?
• How polygon angles affect what will be smoothed
• MetaForming simple objects
• Determining the start shape
• Using the drag tool
• Beveling patches
• Creating hard corners on smooth objects
• Creating complex objects
• Patch / polygon visibility
• Patching partial objects
• Working on 1/2 of the object to maintain symmetry

Inverse Kinematics

• Creating hierarchical objects
• Parenting
• Adding goal objects
• Create key for object and descendants
• Gimbal lock
• Rotational constraints
• Upper and lower limit
• Creating goal keys
• Creating hierarchy keys
• IK and bones

3D image compositing

• Using background images
• Front projection mapping
• How to create a front projection object
• Using background images in Modeler
• Interacting with images
• Casting shadows on a background
• Passing behind background elements
• Reflecting in the background
• Using surface attributes to alter an image
• Working with plates
• Matching LightWave's camera to real camera settings
• Setting up lighting for realistic composites

Spline modeling

• What is a spline
• Is LightWave a spline modeler?
• Creating simple objects with the sketch tool
• Plotting points
• Creating open splines
• Creating colsed splines
• Freezing splines into polygons
• Extruding splines
• Lathing splines
• Creating a spline cage
• Simple spline patches
• Complex cages
• Polygon / spline hybrid objects
• When do you use splines vs. NURBs?

Please remember that Advanced LightWave 3D Techniques is a three-day workshop with at least two hours of optional evening lab practice time each evening and eight hours of hands-on instruction each day. Please make sure you are confident in your skills at the LightWave 3D Essentials level before attempting this intensive workshop.

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