NewTek Lightwave 3D introduction. Learning the layout of Lightwave 3D

1. Lightwave 3D
The Interface:
Having a look around
3D Animation I

2. Let’s Get Started
 Start Lightwave
Layout
 Select File > Clear
Scene
 Command N
 This allows you to
start with a fresh
scene at any time

3. The Interface
 What you see
 Tabs on top
 Selectable items on
left
 Based on tab
selection
 Timeline on bottom
 Play controls
Viewport
Tabs
Menu Items
Timeline

4. The Interface
 What you see
 Every new scene
starts with a light
and a camera
 The wireframe you
see in the viewport
is called the grid
 Used to help you
line up
objects, but is
not seen by the
camera
Light
Navigation Controls
Camera

5. Let’s Look at Something
 Make sure the Items
tab is selected
 On the left, select
Load More and then
select Object…
 Notice that the
shortcut to loading an
object is (+)

6. Let’s Look at Something
 In the Objects
directory, open the
Animals folder and
select
Triceratops.lwo
 Note that all objects
are .lwo

7. Looking Around
 Different views
 Displaying 3
dimensions on a 2D
screen
 Top, Bottom, Back,
Front, Right, Left,
Perspective, Light,
Camera views
 Shortcuts 1 - 6

8. Have a Look Around
 Click on the View
pop-up menu and
choose Top
 Shortcut (2)

9. Looking Around
 Changing your point
of view
 Selected item always
center
 Click on this will
keep whatever you
have selected in the
center of your view

10. Looking Around
 Changing your point
of view
 Dolly & Truck
 Moves your view
forward, backward,
side to side

11. Looking Around
 Changing your point
of view
 Rotate
 Allows you to swing
around the current
view up, down, left
or right
 Not available in
the top view

12. Looking Around
 Changing your point
of view
 Zoom
 Allows you to zoom
in and out on your
current view
 Shortcut (,) (.)

13. Have a Look Around
 Click & hold on the
Dolly button and
drag your cursor
 Keyboard shortcut
(Shift, Option)
 Click & hold on the
Zoom button and
drag your cursor
 Keyboard shortcut
(,)(.)

14. Have a Look Around
 In the View pop-up
menu choose
Perspective
 Keyboard shortcut (4)
 Click and hold on the
Rotate button and
drag your cursor
 Keyboard shortcut
(Option)

15. Have a Look Around
 In the View pop-up
menu choose Light
 Keyboard shortcut (5)
 This shows you what
the light is seeing
 Helpful when aiming
lights at certain
things

16. Have a Look Around
 In the View pop-up
menu choose
Camera
 Keyboard shortcut (6)
 This shows you what
the camera is seeing
 The most important
view
 When you render a
frame or your scene
this is what you get

17. Manipulating Objects
 Use the Modify tab
 Allows you to move,
rotate, scale and
stretch your object
 You can also move
and rotate your
camera or lights as
well

18. A Better View of Our Dino
 Select the Modify
tab
 Select Rotate
 Shortcut (y)
 Click on the Red
circle and rotate
the dino so you
have a better view

19. Manipulating Objects
 Numerics
 Bottom left
 Allows you to set specific
settings to the type of
manipulation you are doing
 Rotation
 Horizontal, Pitch, Bank
 Note the colors red, green
& blue match the control
rings on our dino

20. Tweak the Settings
 Using the Numerics, click
on the <> button and
change the horizontal
setting
 Change the pitch and bank
settings, then select inside
the setting window, type 0
and press Enter to reset
the pitch and bank

21. Timeline – Left Side
 Timeline Slider
 Drag this slider to the desired frame in your
animation
 Current frame is displayed on the left side of the
timeline

22. Timeline – Left Side
 Item Type
 Allows you to choose the kind of item in your
scene you would like to modify
 Object, Bones (things you add inside an object),
Lights, and Camera

23. Timeline – Left Side
 Current Item pop-up menu
 Once you have chosen the kind of item you would
like, then you can choose which of those items you
wish to modify
 Since we only have one object in our scene, our
Triceratops is the only object we can select

24. Timeline – Left Side
 Item Properties
 This allows you to change
features of the selected element
 Object properties allow you to
change its opacity, morph into
something and other tricks

25. Timeline – Right Side
 Total frames in scene
 This is how long the scene is
 Measured in frames
 30 frames per second  this scene is 4 seconds
long
 Type in any value you need to set the duration

26. Change the Scene
Duration
 Select inside the
Scene Duration
window and type 300
and press Enter
 Scene is now 300
frames long = 10
seconds

27. Timeline – Right Side
 Auto Key
 When checked, every time you change an item at
any frame, LW will make a key frame to remember
that change
 Handy feature, but sometimes you need to turn this
off
 Leave it on for now

28. Timeline – Right Side
 Create Key
 Allows you to manually create a key frame when
Auto Key is turned off
 Shortcut (Enter)

29. Let’s Make a Simple
Animation
 Make sure the Timeline
slider is at frame 0
 Using the Modify tab in
Camera view, select
Move, then move the
dino back away from
the camera and to the
right
 With Auto Key on, the
new position is
memorized

30. Let’s Make a Simple
Animation
 Move the slider to
frame 300
 While Move is still
selected, move the
dino closer to the
camera and to the
left

31. Let’s Make a Simple
Animation
 Move the slider to
frame 150
 While Move is still
selected, move the
dino to the left or
right of its current
location
 You now have 3 key
frames

32. Timeline – Right Side
 Navigation Controls
 Allows you to move your slider to specific frames in
your scene
 Go to the beginning, go to previous key frame of
selected item, go back 1 frame, go forward 1
frame, go to next key frame of selected item, go
to end of scene

33. Timeline – Right Side
 Navigation Controls
 Handy keyboard shortcuts
 Go forward or backward 1 frame =  
 Go to previous or next key frame = Shift  

34. Zip to Your Key Frames
 Use the navigation
controls to go to the
beginning and end of
your scene
 Use the navigation
controls to go to
your key frames
 Try out the shortcuts

35. Timeline – Right Side
 Preview pop-up menu
 Allows you to make a preview of your animation
without rendering out a movie
 Much faster – allows you to find problem areas in
your scene without wasting too much time

36. Make a Preview
 Click on the Preview
button and select
Make Preview
 1st frame = 0
 Last frame = 300
 Frame Step = 1
 Viewport = Camera
View
 Press OK

37. Play the Preview
 Click the play button
to play your preview
 You can scrub, step,
go to beginning, end,
set the frame rate
 When done, click
End Preview

38. Timeline – Right Side
 Viewport playback
 Plays the scene forward or backward
 Playback speed depends on the complexity of the scene
 Step
 Plays back each frame (1) or any interval of frames you
choose
 2 = every other frame
 10 = every 10th frame

39. Rendering
 Render tab
 Render the current
frame
 F9
 Render the scene
 F10
 Can render a
selected range of
frames or the whole
thing

40. Render a Frame
 Using the timeline
slider, select a frame
you would like to
render out
 Select the Render
tab, then click
Render Frame
 Or just press F9

41. Rendering
 Render Status
Window
 Shows you what
Lightwave is doing
when rendering your
frame
 Watch Lightwave
build your frame
 Slows down
rendering time & can
be turned off

42. Rendering
 Render Frame
 In its own window
 Allows you to save the
image if you like

43. Save a Frame
 On the Render
Window, select Save
RGBA > LW_JPEG
(.jpg) and save your
frame to the desktop

44. Save Your Scene
 Select File > Save
Scene As…
 Select the Scenes
folder (if necessary)
and create a new
folder ‘My Scenes’
 Title your animation
and Save

45. Lightwave 3D
The Interface:
Having a look around
3D Animation I